


Mercenaries of Fortune

by BlackTyrantValvatorez



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Values Dissonance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-10 02:32:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2007705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackTyrantValvatorez/pseuds/BlackTyrantValvatorez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ghost Force 969 once set up shop in the Inaba Area to take out a large Shadow. Now they're back in town to deal with a threat that should have been extinguished. Meanwhile, a certain Reaper has arrived for an unspecified reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The explicit stuff will not start up until around chapter 30 or so.

Inaba, Central Shopping District South, May 23rd, 2009, 23:15 local time.

Enforcer was busy watching the entrance of the Tofu Shop from a rooftop, his eyes squinting down and focusing through the Holographic Sight on his ACR six-point-eight. It was a useful weapon for the mercenary as its 6.8 mm Remington Special Purpose Cartridge was cheap to produce and buy. The ACR 6.8 itself was also produced on-site at the Headquarters of his mercenary group, Ghost Force 969. The group's headquarters was set up in the coldest part of Siberia, where temperatures reached as low as negative sixty-eight degrees Celsius.

Enforcer knew what was going on right now. Apparently shadows had been sighted in the vicinity an hour before and during the Dark Hour, which came right at 00:00 local time, and randomly preyed on any humans who were not asleep. The Marukyu Tofu Shop was at risk because an old lady maintained the place and there was no doubt that the shadows would attack if they sensed that she was awake. According to information obtained from a friendly contact in the area, the shadows tended to be super-active whenever a full moon appeared in the sky. Right now, there was no moon in the sky, something that was known as a new moon.

Suddenly, at 23:35, Enforcer spotted a few shadows that had wandered into his vision. He fired on them, taking them down quickly since previous encounters with shadows proved that they were vulnerable to 6.8 Remington rounds. More shadows did not appear before the time was 23:55, at which point a large group of them tried to break into the shop as Enforcer took them down. Thankfully they couldn't break through since any shadows that got close enough to attack the entrance got taken out first. When the last one fell, it was 23:59.

Ghost Force HQ transmitted, "Be advised, Enforcer, the Dark Hour is approaching."

Enforcer only replied, "Understood."

Suddenly the time on Enforcer's watch read 0:00. The Dark Hour had come. The sky, moon, and buildings of the town assumed a sickly green color while a few puddles of water nearby turned crimson. Enforcer turned around and saw a massive shadow approaching him.

Enforcer then transmitted, "Enforcer to HQ, a large one's been sighted. It's a New Moon Shadow."

Ghost Force HQ replied, "This is the same New Moon Shadow that we observed back in Azerbaijan. How did it follow us here to Japan?"

"I don't know, but whatever that New Moon Shadow's motives are right now, it isn't interested in the tofu shop owner. She must've went to sleep around 120 to ten seconds before the Dark Hour came. We should follow that shadow, and figure out why it's here." A Female Mercenary answered.

Enforcer then said, "Agreed. Aiko, you're with me and Tunazu. We're going after that shadow."

Aiko replied, "Understood."

Ghost Force HQ then transmitted, "Be advised, the Inaba Police Department will not be able to assist you. They've already retreated into their coffins like every other human that's asleep."

Enforcer's only response was, "Understood."

The New Moon Shadow suddenly took off in a random direction and Enforcer followed it, jumping off the rooftop he was on and descending to street level to pursue it. After about ten minutes, it moved in yet another direction.

Ghost Force HQ hastily transmitted, "That Shadow's heading straight for the Amagi Inn. Stop that thing!"

Aiko answered, "Already on it."

Enforcer replied, "Understood."

As the Shadow slowed down, Enforcer managed to get close to it and noticed its body shape was similar to a Wyvern. Taking aim at it, Enforcer manages to nail its wings with a few bullets and send it crashing to the ground.  
Aiko then arrives and fires an entire clip into the mask that the Shadow had, killing it.

Aiko then said, "Well, that was a job well done."

Enforcer replied, "Yep. HQ, the New Moon Shadow has been neutralized. Orders?"

Ghost Force HQ then transmitted, "Come on home, boys. This mission is over."

"I have a feeling that this isn't the last time that we'll face the New Moon Shadows." Aiko said as she left.

Enforcer then noticed a glowing object on the dead Shadow. He picked it up and it turned out to be a piece of paper that held something.

* * *

Ghost Force 969 Japanese Branch Headquarters, the Dark Hour local time.

Enforcer asked a nearby mercenary, "Any idea on what that things was?"

Tunazu replied, "Yeah. It's a prophecy of something."

"Does this prophecy have anything to do with that craziness about the Fall?"

"Yeah, but this prophecy makes note of a weapon that can stop the Fall forever. That New Moon Shadow, we collected in core essence and it turns out to be one of the key components for this weapon that can stop the Fall. The Shadow was the reverse of a certain Arcana. Which Arcana, though, is still a mystery, but its core essence is the first key component of whatever can stop the Fall permanently."

"Well, that doesn't help any of us."

"At the very least, we can reopen our organization's Weapons Development Department."

"Yeah, that's true, but as far as I know, the weapon that can stop the Fall requires the core essences of Shadows that represent the reverse of the following Arcana: Temperance, Devil, Tower, Sun, Moon, Star, and Judgement. We need to track down the Shadows that have these core essences or our world is doomed."

"You're right. We'll need to search the entire planet for this mission. We'll return here in about a year and then set up permanent shop."


	2. Chapter 2

Inaba, Yasoinaba Station, April 11th, 2011, 23:57 local time.

"Honestly, I don't know why his train is even arriving at midnight. This guy who we don't even know yet and yet somehow knows that I am here in Inaba because of my parents' jobs is personally arriving to see me. Does it strike you as, you know, rather odd, Uncle Ryotaro?" a silver-haired young man said to a police detective.

Ryotaro replied, "Yes, this is quite odd. He specified for us to be here at a time of night when most people would be at home getting ready for the next day. That and the fact that this guy knows where we live, Yu Narukami, makes things a bit suspicious and interesting at the same time."

Yu and Ryotaro both walked up to the main entrance of the station, which was suspiciously open. No doubt, Yu thought, it was kept open since someone would be coming at this time of night. His uncle, though, thought it suspicious that no one else was here aside from himself, Yu Narukami, and his only daughter Nanako Dojima, who was tired right now.

Yu checked the time on a station clock and it struck 0:00. Suddenly, everything assumed a sickly green color. Now Nanako was both scared and tired. The station intercom then announced, "This is Yasoinaba Station. I repeat, this is Yasoinaba Station. May all passengers on the train please grab all of their belongings before disembarking."

* * *

Meanwhile, on a black-colored train heading for Inaba. . .

A figure wearing a long black and red trench coat was busy looking at another figure wearing the same trench coat, but this figure sat down and his face was that of Takaya Sakaki. The figure looking at him had bandages covering its face and the only hole in the bandages was used for vision with a glowing yellow eye.

"Green Screen of Death, thanks to my help, you will live a long, fruitful life as an assassin. Green Screen of Death, otherwise called Takaya Sakaki, your body has been enhanced by cybernetics and robotic limbs to increase your efficiency by multiple factors. You will no longer need your suppressants or your 'Artificial Persona' as the town that we will soon enter is believed to be the gateway to the true home of the creatures known as the Shadows." the figure wearing bandages over its face said to Green Screen of Death.

Green Screen's response was, "So what you are telling me, Black Screen, is that I will no longer need the aid of Hypnos when we arrive in town?"

Black Screen explained, "Indeed. Your friend and colleague Red Screen already lost her 'Artificial Persona' because of your antics about one or two years ago and now she and another colleague had to be rebuilt into cyborgs by me."

Green Screen then exclaimed, "No way! You seriously brought back. . . Reaper! I give you my gratitude and I will use your gifts wisely. As for Chidori and Jin, what are they doing?"

The Reaper replied, "They are getting ready to get off the train. You should do the same. I have business to attend to in the meantime. You and the other two Screens of Death, Red and Blue, should head to the safe-house that I prepared. It is in central Inaba, so move carefully."

The Reaper then took off, leaving Takaya to his own devices.

* * *

Back at the station platform, Yu noticed a black train coming. It then screeched to a halt as the doors opened, allowing a figure wearing a black and red trench coat to step out. Its face was covered in bandages, and the only opening in the bandages revealed a glowing yellow eye.

The figure said, "It's been a long time since I last saw you, Yu Narukami. Ah, these two people standing here are the ones you are staying with? My name is The Reaper, but you can simply call me 'Black Screen of Death.' Tell me, what happened to Chisato while I have been away?"

Ryotaro Dojima replied, "My wife was killed in a hit-and-run. The young girl here is my daughter, Nanako."

The Reaper noticed her and then said, "Aw, she looks so adorable! Well, as for why my train had to arrive at midnight, the fools disembarking by another door had a few. . . complications and the next available train would have been nearly two months from now if I hadn't booked the midnight train."

Yu then asked, "Should we get going right now?"

The Reaper said to him, "Oh yes. We must go now. Yu, this will be quite interesting, won't it?"

"Yeah, you're right."

As the four of them packed into Ryotaro's vehicle and went to the Dojima Residence, Yu found himself answering questions from Nanako and Ryotaro about The Reaper. For the most part, The Reaper had been watching over him from a distance over the past six years, only occasionally getting close to him, which was often limited to birthdays. When they had arrived, The Reaper's stuff, which had a lot of suitcases, was loaded into a small basement.


	3. Chapter 3

Yasogami High School, Classroom, Tuesday, April 12th, 08:29 local time.

Students were already inside chatting with each other. Some of them sat down while a few stood. They heard a door open and the students that were standing around went to their seats and sat, continuing their conversations as the homeroom teacher walked up to his desk with Yu Narukami.

Stupid-looking teacher: "Awright, shut yer traps! I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward! Some standard crap first: Just because it's friggin' spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons. Long as I'm around. . . ah, ferget it. I figure you guys being pure as snow is just about as likely as 'The Simpsons' getting cancelled! I hate wasting my time, but I need to introduce this here transfer student. This sad sack has been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. Damn, I still can't forget about what happened in the science lab."

A Blond-looking student then exclaimed, "You mean that freak accident with Chie-chan's lunch being mixed in with some reactive chemicals that had been mistaken for soy sauce?"

Morooka's response was, "That's the one, Yosuke! Cleaning the mess caused by that took the rest of the day and even then it cost about 45,000 yen in damages."

A Short-haired female student then said, "Ugh, I only had what could still be eaten from that and even now- Ugh! Agh! Damn it, not now!"

"Aw, what is it now, Chie?" Morooka asked.

Chie complained, "uuuuuuooooough, my stomach!"

Morooka thought (SHIT!) to himself and then shouted, "Get to a bathroom before your bowels explode in here! I'm not going to take the blame if it starts smelling in this room as well!"

Chie immediately ran out of the room while holding her stomach. She closed the classroom door behind her as she left.

Morooka then continued on, "Well, with that out of the way, transfer student! Tell all of us your name and be quick about it! And you girls better not think about hitting on him, he's as much of a. . . misfit here as he was in the city."

Yu started, "The name's Yu Narukami, sir. Yeah, that abou-"

"WHOA, I THINK I JUST SAW YOUR LOSER EYES GAZE OVER AT THAT GIRL SITTING OVER BY-"

Yu would not stand being cut off, even by a teacher, and yelled at Morooka, "I WILL NOT ALLOW ANYONE, NOT EVEN A TEACHER, TO INTERRUPT ME WHILE I'M SPEAKING! AND WHAT WAS THAT EARLIER?! YOU CALLING ME A LOSER?! MOROOKA-SENSEI, CALM THE HELL DOWN!" in an angry tone.

"Well, what's you-"

Izanagi suddenly made himself visible and thrust his spear into the chair next to Morooka before the persona said,  _ **"DON'T. BELITTLE. MY. MASTER. OR. I. WILL. KILL. YOU!"**_  angrily.

Now he was afraid, but Morooka didn't show it. "That's it, you're on my shit list, effective immediately. Now, if you excuse me, you backstabbing, worthless, shit-eating, slud-"

Suddenly three Mercenaries in full uniform crashed into the classroom through the windows as the door closest to Yu was blasted open by a pair of Mercenaries while another pair of them kicked open the other doorway in, all seven of them aiming their weapons at Morooka.

One of the Mercenaries who came in through the windows immediately said, "Tackle him! Wellington, Tunazu, make sure no one leaves until lunch!"

As five of the Mercenaries tackled Morooka to the ground, the two that had been called 'Wellington' and 'Tunazu' took their positions by one of the doorways.

Wellington said from the doorway near Yosuke, "This doorway is secure!"

Tunazu replied from the doorway that had been blasted open, "Doorway secure!"

A Mercenary then ordered, "Alright, let's drag Morokin down to the faculty office so we can press our case that he isn't fit to teach!"

The Nearby mercenaries then shouted, "Hoo-rah! Enforcer knows what's best!"

Enforcer then said to Morooka, "Right, let's get moving. We'll hear your side of things after the principal hears our case."

Enforcer and the four Mercenaries near him left the room, dragging Morooka with them.

Wellington then said, "Alright, you heard my boss. Nobody is suppose to leave this room until things simmer down, which probably won't happen until lunchtime, so I hope you guys have a way to entertain yourselves. A new teacher is actually supposed to be in here, but you guys got stuck with Morokin due to bureaucratic crap slowing things down."

Yu thought to himself, " _Well, where am I supposed to sit?_ " as he scanned the rooms for an empty seat. A male student near the front row immediately got up and shifted down next to where Chie sat earlier. The student thought to himself as he did that, " _There is no way I'm going to be able to compete with that Narukami kid for Yukiko's attention! I better find a new seat._ " Having picked up on what had happened, Yu sat down next to a girl with black hair.

The Black-haired girl noticed him and said, "Hello, Narukami-kun. My name's Yukiko Amagi, but you can just call me Yukiko."

Yu replied, "Okay, it's nice to meet you as well, Yukiko."

The rest of the morning was very uneventful, and lunch was done pretty quickly, but when lunch was over, Yu saw The Reaper walk into the classroom and stand where Morooka had been earlier while Chie snuck back into the classroom via the other doorway.

The Reaper started in a cheerful manner, "Hello everyone. Sorry for what happened earlier today, but you know how bureaucracy tends to get in the way of progress. Anyway, my name is The Reaper and I will be teaching your homeroom instead of Morooka for this year. The subject that I will be teaching is Mythology. As such, with each week we will study a different culture's mythology starting with Japanese Mythology and heading onwards."

The Reaper rambled on and on until the final bell of the day rang. "Well, normal lectures start tomorrow." As The Reaper got his stuff ready, the intercom came on.

"Attention, all teachers. Please report to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice." a female staff member said over the intercom before it powered down. "Alright, you heard what they said. You guys can't leave until you hear otherwise." The Reaper said before he left.

The instant he left, the classroom was rife with chatter. Only a few minutes later police sirens were heard and got louder as the intercom buzzed to life again with the following message as the chatter died down: "Attention, all students. There has been an incident inside the school district and police officers have been dispatched throughout the School Zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Please head directly home."

Immediately after it ended, the chatter picked right back up as students left. Chie walked with Yukiko near Yu's desk and asked him, "Hey, are you going home by yourself? Why don't you come with us? Oh, I almost forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka."

Yu responded, "Sure."

Chie then said, "Alright. Over here is Yukiko Amagi. I already noticed that you sit next to her when I came back from the bathroom."

Yukiko then added, "Yeah, we've already met, but nice to meet you. I'm sorry that this is so sudden."

"C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I've got no upbringing. I just wanted to ask some stuff. That's all."

Yukiko then said, "On another note, Yosuke gave me this during Lunch and told me to give it to you." as she handed Chie a DVD case.

Chie opened it and looked inside. "What the hell? It's completely cracked! Where is he?!" she said.

"He mentioned that he had to head to the Central Shopping District after school in class. Something about protection fees being late." Yu remembered and then said.

Chie asked, "You mean he already left?!"

Yu replied, "Yep."

Chie immediately yelled, "Dammit!" before she took off. Yu and Yukiko didn't see her until about seven minutes later in the Central Shopping District, where they found her supporting Yosuke in front of a rough-looking young man. Yosuke was completely beat up and had a bloody nose.

The Rough-looking young man yelled, "And the two of you need to cough up the protection fees by the end of next week or Yosuke's going to have more than just a few broken bones! You got that? Now get the hell out of my sight!"

The four of them immediately left. Yukiko then asked, "Who was that guy?"

Yosuke answered, "That guy is Arisato Natazaka. He's a former Yakuza member. Chie, you remember why I gave the DVD to Yukiko? Well, I was running late on protection fees for the Junes Department Store and he said for me to come to him after school. After I reached him, I then mentioned my mistake with your 'Trial of the Dragon' DVD with him and that's what caused him to break a few bones in my body. I know I deserved it, but if it was you, you would have went for the kill."

Chie's response was, "You're right. No wonder you're all bloody and beat up right now."

As they walked home, they chatted a bit before separating.

* * *

Several hours later, Dojima Residence, Yu:'s room, 11:33 local time.

The Reaper was on a weirdly-shaped cell phone, talking to someone. "Okay. Sure. Whoa, slow down, Amagi! You certain about this?"

"Yeah. Recently, I've noticed that when the time was midnight, my wife and everyone else at the Inn except for myself and my daughter Yukiko transformed into coffins while this green-ish color permeated everything!" someone called 'Amagi' frantically said on the other end.

"Calm down, Amagi. Do you remember experiencing this phenomenon anytime before?" the Reaper calmly asked.

"No."

"Then it is obvious that your body has not adjusted to it yet. I will be arriving with another student who can experience this phenomenon during it. He personally had to feel it when my train arrived at midnight last night or I would have doubted that I was in the right town."

"Alright. I'll see you and the student in question at the Inn. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

The Reaper then hung up before he said to Yu, "We must head to the Amagi Inn tonight, Narukami. Two others can experience what occurred when I arrived in town and I will have to speak with one of them."

Yu replied, "Okay."

The Reaper then added, "Nanako should be fast asleep right now. It is only natural since she is only around six years of age, but it will become an inconvenience later when midnight comes."

Yu asked, "Why?"

The Reaper said to him, "You'll see soon enough."

It barely took twenty-five minutes, but Yu and The Reaper were now near the Amagi Inn. Mercenaries were nearby, and they were all on patrol for something.

Ghost Force HQ transmitted, "Be advised, Enforcer, the Dark Hour is approaching."

Enforcer only replied, "Understood."

Enforcer's watch now read 0:00 and the Dark Hour came.

Yu noticed what had happened and asked The Reaper, "Is this what you mentioned earlier?'

The Reaper replied, "Yes. This is a time period that sits in between one day and the next: The Dark Hour. Most people can't experience it."

Both Yu Narukami and The Reaper walked up to the front door of the Amagi Inn unopposed by the mercenaries since they just observed the two of them. At the reception desk was a man who appeared to be in his fifties.

The Reaper said to the man, "I have arrived, Hideki Amagi."

Hideki responded with, "Yes you have, Mr. Reaper. I suppose that young man with you is the student who can also experience what's going on now."

The Reaper replied, "Yes. Now where is Yukiko? Your daughter and this Yu Narukami person with me happen to be students in my Mythology class at Yasogami High."

Yu then noticed someone slowly walking towards them out of a hallway and said, "Huh? Who is that? It's difficult to tell who it is because it's so dark in here."

The Reaper also noticed and said, "Wait a minute. I can recognize that person. It's Yukiko. Come on, we don't bite."

Yukiko walked towards them and asked, "Are these the people you were expecting?"

Hideki answered, "Yes, Yukiko."

The Reaper then explained, "I'm sure you already know, but since we just met in a non-professional situation, I will go through introductions again. My name is The Reaper."

Yu introduced himself again, "Hello. I am Yu Narukami."

Yukiko then said to both Yu and the Reaper, "Hello. It's nice to meet both of you."

The Reaper then pulled a briefcase out of nowhere and opened it after setting it on a nearby table. Inside were various documents and a gun-like object. "That thing will be discussed another time, but as for this phenomenon, according to these documents made by the Kirijo Group, it is called the Dark Hour."


	4. Chapter 4

_A machine thrice the size of a normal human stood before Kunino-Sagiri, ready to attack. It is a heavily armed war machine equipped with a missile launcher and Chain-gun on the back, energy chainsaw currently erect and open on the right arm, a nuke mortar hidden inside the left arm, knee-mounted flamethrowers, and an energy shield that protected the mech from harm. This was the Mercenaries' pride and joy: the NZT-4000 "Death Burner" war mech._

_Inside, the pilot, a soldier only known as Enforcer said to his nearby allies,_ "Go. Escape from here. I'll handle this thing."

 _Enforcer's nearest ally, a silver-haired teenager by the name of Yu Narukami, said to him,_ "Understood. Everyone, we must flee from here. Enforcer will cover our escape and we will return to Inaba."

_The others agree and take off with Yu while Enforcer prevented Kunino-Sagiri from following with chain-gun fire._

"No! You can't! I won't let you leave with her! I must save her! To do that, I have to stop you!" _Kunino-Sagiri pleaded with Enforcer._

"You tried to 'save' three others and managed to get two of them into mortal peril instead of safety. We kept the idol girl safe because we caught on to the true suspect's motives before he could get to the Tofu Shop in town. We had warned you not to trust Tohru Adachi and you obeyed us for the first three victims after Konishi Saki, but after the Mitsuo Kubo situation, you ignored our warning and ended up as an unwitting accomplice in his plan. The two you had got into mortal peril were Shirogane Naoto and Konishi Saki. Saki was understandable since you had merely warned her of what was happening and that she was in danger, but Naoto had a plan to expose Adachi as the one who threw the victims into this fog-ridden world. You had unintentionally put a wrench in that plan by throwing her into this world." _Enforcer coldly replied as his mech hurt the Shadow with its energy chainsaw._

"You. . . You. . . You're right. I should have never contacted him after that situation with the Mitsuo kid. I must flee as well. Destroy this Shadow in my stead. I am not yet ready to face my true self." _Taro Namatame said before forcing himself out of Kunino-Sagiri and escaping._

"This Shadow is not your repressed feelings, but a part of something far more mysterious, Namatame. Your own Shadow has yet to reveal its true face." _Enforcer said before opening the mech's left arm and firing the nuke mortar's projectile at Kunino-Sagiri, enveloping the Shadow in a nuclear explosion that the Death Burner had to outrun before it was safe. When the explosion stopped, Enforcer looked back and saw a smouldering crater where the entrance to the unnatural reality called 'Heaven' had once stood._

* * *

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 4

The Amagi Inn, Reception area, the Dark Hour local time.

Hideki's response was a perplexed, "The Dark Hour?! I figured that would be a fitting name for this phenomenon."

The Reaper then explained, "Normal people transmogrify into coffins during it, but those who can summon something called a 'Persona' retain their human form during the Dark Hour. So far right now, those mercenaries outside, you, Yukiko, Yu Narukami, Ryotaro Dojima and his daughter Nanako, some former high school students from Iwatodai City, and I are the only ones alive who can retain their normal form during this phenomenon."

A mercenary came in and said in a British accent, "Two of my buddies are on their way from the Police Station. They just found Saki Konishi unconscious inside one of the interrogation rooms."

Yu then asked, "And who are you again?"

The Mercenary then said, "I guess I didn't bloody explain earlier today that I have a British accent. Name's Wellington."

Wellington got out of the doorway and positioned himself on a wall as two more mercenaries came in and set down the unconscious Saki on the floor.

Wellington then asked, "Tunazu, Enforcer, any idea on her condition?"

Enforcer's response was, "Yeah. She's unconscious, but I can't exactly pinpoint how it happened."

The Reaper then said, "I'll handle this."

The Reaper then put a hand on Saki's head for a few moments before pulling it back. "She's just exhausted and recovering from something traumatic."

Tunazu sighed and then said, "Well, that's a relief. She was lucky to have not been preyed on since right now it's the Dark Hour."

Enforcer then asked, "Hideki, Yukiko, Yu, do any of you know what Shadows are?"

They nodded in disagreement. "Well, Shadows are monsters spawned from human emotion that for some strange reason only appear during the Dark Hour and at 2300 hours each day before the Dark Hour comes exactly at midnight. It was supposed to end about a year ago when the world should have ended, but something happened and the world is still going. We were in this area two years ago and now we've just recently set up permanent shop in the vicinity." Enforcer explained.

Tunazu then asked, "How about you explain what our mission is, Wellington?"

Wellington shrugged and then started explaining, "What we are doing here is collecting the Core Essences of certain Shadows in order to end what currently stands as a permanent threat to our world's existence: The Fall."

Hideki asked, "What is this 'Fall,' Wellington?"

"The Fall is when the Night Queen, Nyx, destroys this world. In order to stop the fall, Nyx must be destroyed. To do so, we are collecting the Core Essences of Shadows that represent the reverse of the following Major Arcana: Temperance, Devil, Tower, Star, Sun, Moon, and Judgement. So far right now, we only have the Core Essences from Shadows that represented the reverse of the Temperance and the Star Arcana. We took down Star back in this area about two years ago while Temperance was defeated in South America seven months later."

Yu then realized and said, "So that means the only components left are. . ."

Enforcer answered, "Yes. The only Core Essences left unextracted from the corpses of their Shadows are Devil, Tower, Sun, Moon, and Judgement."

Saki then stirred before she awoke. "Where am I?" she asked.

Wellington answered, "This is the Amagi Inn. We found you unconscious at the Police Department earlier."

The mercenaries then explained what the Dark Hour was to Saki. She was surprised to hear this information, but she listened to it.

Enforcer then said, "Alright, back to the topic on Shadows. These things only feed on the minds of humans, leaving them helpless and vulnerable husks that are unable to care for themselves unless the local nest has been intruded into."

Hideki then said, "I guess Shadows do more than just eating the minds of their victims if one did intrude on their nest."

Enforcer replied, "Correct. The Shadows will go absolutely bat-shit insane if a human intrudes upon their local nest and they will chase and attempt to kill the intruder before they calm down."

Yu thought for a few moments and then said, "Then the only reason that the TV announcer was found dead on an antenna-"

Tunazu then finished, "-Is that the Shadows had gotten to her when she disappeared and, believing her to have intruded on their local nest, murdered Mayumi Yamano in one of their rages."

Wellington added to that, "Exactly, and the police can't figure out anything that happens during the Dark Hour because they are all hiding inside of their coffins. Essentially, we're on our own."

The Reaper then said, "Well then, we should wrap things up for now. Hideki, I will be seeing you when the next Dark Hour comes."

Hideki replied, "Agreed."

Yu responded with, "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Amagi."

Hideki said to Yu, "It sure was nice meeting you as well, Yu Narukami. You could either take this as a joke or take it seriously, but I think that you would be a great choice for Yukiko. She's already rejected or ignored many of the local guys."

A tired Yukiko then complained, "Father. . . ah, I feel tired right now. I'll see you in class, Yu-kun and Reaper-sensei."

Yukiko then left the room. The mercenaries took off with Yu and the Reaper only seconds later.

* * *

Junes Department Store, Food Court, Wednesday, April 13,14:35 local time.

Yu Narukami, Chie Satonaka, and The Reaper were sitting at a table since Yosuke was taking their order.

"THIS is the cheap place you were talking about earlier. . . ? They don't have grilled steak here." Chie exclaimed as Yosuke came with the meal.

"Yeah, well, once you hopped in on the freeloader train, I had to change my plans." Yosuke calmly replied.

Chie replied, "Still, that's no reason to take us to your place."

"Dude, this isn't my place or anything." Yosuke replied calmly again.

Yu asked, "What's going on?"

The Reaper replied, "Huh?"

Yosuke then realized that they were clueless as to what they were talking about and explained, "Oh, right. I haven't told you yet, huh? I moved here from another city about six months back. This location just opened up, and my dad was assigned to manage it. So my entire family came out here."

Yu then explained, "I'm here because of my parents' occupations taking them overseas."

The Reaper added, "And I found myself taking a teaching job at Yasogami High School this year."

Yosuke then gave Yu and The Reaper a soda before he said, "Here, this is to welcome you to town." before his eyes darted to Chie and added, "Satonaka, yours is on me too."

Chie replied, "Yeah, I know."

As the four of them toasted, at another table, Wellington said to Tunazu, "Tunazu, we'll need to keep an eye on that Narukami kid and that Reaper."

Tunazu replied in an obviously Japanese accent, "Sure can do, comrade Wellington."

While the non-mercenaries engaged in conversation, Tunazu got a call from HQ that said, "All personnel, report to our field base. We've got some Intel regarding Shadow movement in your area!"

Wellington asked, "What was that just now?"

Tunazu replied, "We're needed back at the base, Wellington. We can surveillance these people later!"

Wellington then said, "Okay then, let's go!"

The two Ghost Force soldiers left.

* * *

Ghost Force 969 Field Base Juliet-Alpha-six-niner, Command Center, three miles east of Inaba, 17:03 local time.

Enforcer said to everyone, "Well, this is not something that we had expected."

Tunazu asked, "What?!"

Enforcer then explained, "Judging by how erratic the Shadows are acting in Inaba these past few days, I say that we've found a nest somewhere in town. The only question is where is it?"

Wellington said, "Yeah. We'll need to station ourselves near Yasogami High because that is a probable location for the Shadows to hide their nest."

Aiko heard this and explained, "True, but at the same time, the Junes Department Store is another likely location."

Enforcer noticed her chatter and said, "Smart call, Aiko. Anyways, in lieu of recent events and accessing a classified section of your profile, the higher ups decided to honorably discharge you starting on Yasogami High's summer break. Your service to the Ghosts has been great, but it seems that a shard of the past, specifically your past, holds much more importance."

Aiko then realized what Enforcer had just said and started, "You mean. . ."

Enforcer finished, "Yes. The higher ups are sure that your childhood friend has been found."

"Where is he?" Aiko asked as she took her helmet off to reveal her auburn hair.

Enforcer replied, "Iwatodai City area. Unfortunately, he can't move on his own, so he'll be coming by train. It will arrive on the 28th of this month at the latest."

* * *

Yasogami High School gates, 23:59 local time.

Enforcer noticed nothing out of the ordinary so far and said, "Well, no Shadows whatsoever in town. I have a feeling that our answer will only show itself during the Dark Hour."

Wellington replied, "You got that right."

Suddenly the Dark Hour came. As it did, a structure rose and twisted out from beneath Yasogami High School and only when it stopped rising did it cease twisting.

Enforcer said in awe, "Tartarus. The Greek name of the land of the dead. HQ, you getting this?"

Ghost Force HQ transmitted, "Yeah. Shadows are crawling everywhere inside of that tower and since dedicated support is over in South America right now, we won't be able to explore that nest until May at the earliest. Focus on locating where the true home of those things is. HQ out."


	5. Chapter 5

_The Shadow tried to retreat into its golden cage, but before that could happen, Izanagi fired off a Zionga and finished it off.  
_

_"NO!" the Shadow said as the cage fell to the ground, taking the chunk of ceiling that the cage was attached to with it and crushing the cage and its contents._

* * *

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 5

Ghost Force 969 Field Base, Command Center, Thursday, April 14, 19:15 local time.

"What the hell is that thing?" a soldier asked Enforcer.

"It's some scanner that was just recently set-up. Apparently the televisions in town act as portals into the true home of the Shadows: monster born from human emotion. They go ballistic if their nests are disturbed and we just found out that this 'TV World' that the local televisions are connected to is the original Shadow nest from which they have been spreading from for all this time. Mayumi Yamano was killed by these things as technically, when she was thrown into the TV World, she had intruded on the original nest." Enforcer replied.

"Intruded?! But why would they consider someone who was tossed into without a choice as an intruder?!"

"Does it look like any of us can understand the Shadows? No. Besides, with this scanner, we'll be able to detect if someone has been thrown in."

Suddenly an alarm rang as Mercenaries started scrambling. Enforcer then took off into a meeting room where Dmitri, Tunazu, Aiko, and a superior officer were standing around. Dmitri was a Russian and used a minigun primarily.

"Alright, boys, we just found out from the scanner that Saki Konishi was recently thrown into the TV World. Any action plans that we can take?" the superior officer said.

"Sir?" Enforcer asked.

"Yes, Enforcer."

"We head in, secure Konishi, and then extract out. The only problem would be visibility and getting out. Heading in is the easy part."

"Alright, we'll use your plan. Echo Squad, move out!"

As Aiko, Tunazu, Dmitri, and Enforcer left, they were joined by the soldier from earlier and another Mercenary. Their names were Louis and Zhang respectively.

* * *

Forty minutes later, inside the TV World. . .

Saki awoke and wondered what had happened earlier today, but her mind was too clouded for her to figure anything out. She also noticed that the area was covered in a thick fog that made it hard as hell to see anything in front of her. Before she can move, she hears a sound coming from somewhere and decides to stay where she is to make it easier for anyone to find her.

Meanwhile, Echo Squad had just came in and found out that they were in some sort of television studio-like area.

"Any idea where Saki is in this place, Enforcer?" Tunazu asked Enforcer.

"No, and we can't see shit in front of us because of this fog. We'll have to activate the flashlights on our weapons." Enforcer replied.

The Mercenaries activated the flashlights on their weapons and the light provided by them managed to let them see through the fog for about ten feet. Before long, they saw a figure with the subtle shape of what was probably a mascot come into their view.

The mascot said to them, "Who are you?! Are you guys in league with the one who has been throwing people in here?!"

Enforcer answered with, "No. We're here to extract a human who got thrown in here earlier. Please prepare an exit for us. Tunazu will watch you while the rest of us search for the human."

Mascot?: "Sure can do. The exit is going to be a bit odd, but it's a TV."

"Makes sense considering that we entered one just to get in here. Oh, and I didn't catch your name."

"The name's Teddie. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Teddie. Heading out now."

All members of Echo Squad except for Tunazu left Teddie behind at the studio-like area as they began the search for Saki. After about ten minutes of searching, Enforcer realized that the TV world had a LOT of Shadows hiding around in the fog. Just before he was about to begin intensifying efforts to find Konishi, he heard a scream come in from the left.

"Wellington, can you recognize that scream?" Enforcer asked.

Wellington answered with, "Yeah. It's Saki."

Dmitri then said, "We need to barrel in the direction of that scream. Maybe the Shadows have found her."

The Mercenaries quickly moved in the direction that Enforcer heard the scream from and found themselves in a twisted version of the Central Shopping District of Inaba. In front of the Konishi Liquor store, Wellington said, "You head in, Enforcer. Aiko and I will come in with you. Dmitri, you need to guard this entryway so no Shadows jump us. Same goes for Louis and Zhang."

Enforcer yelled, "Let's do this!"

The three of them charged into the Liquor Store while Dmitri and the remaining soldiers took defensive positions at the entrance. Inside, a Shadow that had the body of a scorpion leapt away from an unconscious Saki Konishi.

Enforcer swore and then said, "Damn, she's unconscious. We'll need to carry her out now. I'll do it if anyone else doesn't want to."

Wellington's response was, "I'm alright, you go ahead."

Aiko then spoke up, "I'll do it."

Aiko turned her weapon's flashlight off before putting it away and walked up to Saki and then picked the girl up. Hearing gunfire, Enforcer and Wellington rushed back to the entrance. Three Basalt-Type Shadows had attacked and Dmitri had taken down two of them by himself while Zhang and Louis did their best to keep it pinned down. Moving quickly, Enforcer manages to flush the Basalt into Dmitri's firing zone and before it could do anything, Mini-gun rounds fired by the Mercenary pounded into it and killed the Shadow.

Enforcer then shouted, "We need to get moving back to the entrance and fast!"

Wellington then shouted, "Let's move, on the double!"

The Mercenaries all said a fast, "Hoo-Rah!" as they headed back to the TV studio-like area. Once there, the TV exits were ready and Tunazu stood guard as Teddie greeted them.

"The girl is unconscious. A scorpion-like Shadow got to her, but she's not dead." Enforcer said.

"Well then, since we found her, we can head back into Inaba. This world is definitely a Shadow nest." Wellington also exclaimed.

Teddie then said, "So you guys now know what this 'TV World' actually is."

Dmitri answered, "Pretty much. I suspect that this world is the original Shadow nest from which they have been migrating to our world from."

"Unfortunately so. Many of the stronger Shadows have already disappeared ever since an incident about twelve years ago."

Enforcer then said to Teddie, "I hate to break it, but those Shadows had probably been lured out of this place. The Kirijo Group, I believe, is the perpetrator, but as of now, most of who were involved in the experiments done by them are dead."

Wellington then shouted, "We can't spend much more time here!"

"We'll have to cut this short. We need to be on the other side of the TV because there's another Shadow nest over there now."

With that, everyone went into the TV exits and left the TV World.

* * *

Black Train, Car No. ?, Unknown Train Station, 23:55 local time.

"This is Epsilon Five-Four, everything is alright and we will reach Yasoinaba Station in only a few days if all goes well." a Mercenary on-board the train transmitted on the radio.

"Understood, Epsilon Five-Four, be advised, there are high odds that an attack will come in your direction while the train is en route to Inaba. You and the rest of Delta Squad need to protect the H.V.I. (High-Value-Individual) on-board until the train reaches Yasoinaba Station. From there, Ghost Force troops already in Inaba will take control of guarding the H.V.I. and transport him to Inaba Memorial Hospital." Ghost Force HQ transmitted back.

Epsilon Five-Four then asked, "Understood, but is it really necessary for the train to be escorted by EIGHT Black Hawk Helicopters?"

Ghost Force HQ's only response was, "Yes, Epsilon Five-Four. HQ out."

With that, the transmission ended as the train started moving again. According to intelligence, it would only take about eighty-four hours to reach Inaba by train judging by how fast the train had been going for the past two days. Just before the Dark Hour came, HQ called and reminded the Mercenaries on-board that the train can still move during the phenomenon. About five minutes later, another mercenary transmitted to Epsilon Five-Four that enemies have boarded the train.

Epsilon Five-Four asked a nearby mercenary, "Any idea on what they are?"

The Mercenary replied, "Shadows! No matter what, make sure that they do not reach Minato Arisato!"

Epsilon Five-Four then shouted to him, "Understood."

A Shadow that looked humanoid landed in front of Epsilon Five-Four, who didn't hesitate as he unloaded a clip of bullets into the Shadow, killing it. "Well, that Shadow is dead." he said as he started searching the train car for more Shadows. Three more were found and they were killed upon being discovered.

Meanwhile, the Black Hawk helicopters were firing their mini-guns at several groups of Shadows that were trying to board the train. After five groups of Shadows were neutralized, one of the soldiers on one of the Black Hawks transmitted, "This is Foxtrot Two-One, these Shadows are starting to be a pain in the ass!" as the helicopter had to start using evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit by RPG fire coming from the Shadows.

Ghost Force HQ transmitted back, "Ground support will be unavailable until you guys get near Yasoinaba Station. You're on your own."

Foxtrot Two-One then said before cutting communications, "Roger."

The Black Hawks then started firing their own rockets at the Shadow clusters, easily killing many of them and reducing the volume of RPGs coming at them as the helicopters and the train moved towards their target.

* * *

The Amagi Inn, Reception Area, the Dark Hour local time.

"The situation is starting to spiral out of control. A Shadow had gotten to Saki Konishi before we recovered her, she's currently unconscious for unknown reasons, and now we have a new problem to handle." Enforcer said as the meeting began.

Tunazu added, "One of our trains that is heading to Inaba is under attack. From what we have found out, the attackers are all Shadows."

Yu thought for a few moments and then responded with, "That means that whoever killed Mayumi Yamano isn't behind the ongoing train attack, among other things. Reaper-Sensei, you getting any of this?"

The Reaper replied, "Yeah, and it's not good. I'll need to attend to Saki in the meantime."

The Reaper then left. When he did, Dmitri and Aiko came in with Yosuke Hanamura. "We found him near his home. He's scared out of his wits, but he obviously has the Potential." Aiko explained.

Yosuke then said, "Hello everyone. I hope I can get along with all of you."

As Yosuke took a seat, the Reaper came back in and said, "Well, I have some good news and some bad news."

Yukiko asked, "So what's the good news?"

The Reaper answered with, "The good news is that Saki is still alive."

"And the bad news?" Yu Narukami asked.

"The bad news is that her mind got eaten by a Shadow before she was recovered by Enforcer and his buddies. The Shadow responsible was a scorpion-like one that is still at large right now." The Reaper said before he explained what Shadows and the Dark Hour were to Yosuke. When the Reaper was done explaining, Yosuke decided that he would help Yu and Yukiko explore the TV world after a training session that would happen on Friday.

Enforcer: "Yeah, as for that training session, we have five holographic simulation rooms back at our field base. The facility where our holo-simulators is underground and it is right underneath Vehicle Hanger 3. It's only accessed by an elevator, so the facility and the access elevator run on a separate generator if the base experiences a power failure."

As everyone left the reception area, Yu remembered that there was another Shadow nest in Inaba. He said nothing about it as he went home, though.


	6. Chapter 6

_This Shadow was not like any others that the mercenaries had fought before. For the first time, the Shadow had a mechanical appearance with a riot gun on its left arm. It growled as it scanned Enforcer and his allies. When his allies attacked it, their shots could not hit the target. It was during that moment while the Dark Hour was present in Inaba that something awakened inside Enforcer._

**_"Promethean_ ** _**Vision!"**  he yelled._

_Yellow light shone from Enforcer's eyes, which were hidden by his helmet, as he looked at the Shadow, the light illuminating what the mercenary could see right now. "I. . . I can see the enemy's weak points." he said as he fired at the Shadow and hit it. Dmitri then finished it off with a few shots from his mini-gun.  
_

_Dmitri said to him, "That new power just saved our hides. Now if those Shadows scan us and we can't hit them, we can make use of your vision to be able to attack them normally."_

_Enforcer replied, "Yeah. Let's get going and get closer to the top of this dead tower."  
_

_Everyone grunted in agreement as they continued._

* * *

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter Six

Ghost Force 969 Field Base, barracks, Friday, April 15, 01:13 local time.

"Tunazu, that report will need to be on my desk before 06:30 hours today. HQ is expecting it before we get going to Yasogami High." Enforcer said.

"Sure can do, Enforcer." Tunazu replied as he got to work on the mission report of what happened in the TV world.

Enforcer then left the room.

Meanwhile, the Black Train transporting Minato Arisato had to increase its speed and was transmitting messages to all railroad traffic to clear the way. Even as it did so, the Black Hawk helicopters escorting it still fired at any Shadows that tried to board the train. Because of the increase in speed and judging how fast the train was going, it would now take only forty-six hours to reach Yasoinaba Station.

Foxtrot One-Two shouted into his radio, "This is Foxtrot One-Two! Enemy RPG fire is increasing and we are nearing Inaba! Where's ground support?!"

Ghost Force HQ responded, "They are en route now. Just stay in the air."

Foxtrot One-Two then replied before cutting communications again, "Understood."

As the Black Hawks had to dodge enemy RPG fire, the train itself was boarded by a few humanoid Shadows a few times, all of which were eventually repulsed by the Ghost Force soldiers on-board. Epsilon Five-Four always remained near the H.V.I., Minato Arisato, since if the Shadows got him, it would be over and to prevent that, Epsilon Five-Four and two other mercenaries stayed near Minato and killed any Shadows that tried to reach the blue-haired young man.

When it was nearly 03:00 hours, Epsilon Five-Four said to the other soldiers, "Look alive. We'll be at Yasoinaba Station in only forty-four hours now."

As he and the other mercenaries got ready, the train continued on its way to Inaba, moving faster than it previously had.

* * *

Yasogami High School, Auditorium, 13:45 local time.

As students stood around, they are already chatting amongst one another. As it started to heat up, one of the teachers, Ms. Sofue, said into the microphone in front of her, "Everyone, please settle down. The school assembly is about to begin. First, the principal and the famed mercenary from Ghost Force 969, Enforcer, member of Echo Squadron, have something important to say."

Ms. Sofue stepped away from the microphone, which was attached to a podium and waked over to its right and stopped. Then the principal walked up to it and began, "I . . . regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you. In fact, Enforcer knows about what happened more than I do. Regardless, he decided that he is not speaking it yet because Ghost Force 969 has not yet officially made this information public. They only authorized him to tell me about what actually happened. One of our third-year students, Ms. Saki Konishi of class 3 has been afflicted with Apathy Syndrome. She was discovered on top of the Junes Department Store by Enforcer and the rest of the Squadron alive and unable to move. The reasons behind her affliction are currently being investigated by both the police and Ghost Force 969 and as a result of suffering from Apathy Syndrome, Ms. Konishi's well being has been entrusted to the mercenaries. Should they ask you for their cooperation, I urge you as students of the school to provide only the facts."

As chatter picked back up immediately, the principal said, "All right, please quiet down." before he added, "I have been assured by the faculty that there's been no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident. So mind what you say, not only to the police but to anyone who asks that is not a mercenary."

When the principal stopped, Enforcer walked to the podium and then said, "Be aware that you pay attention to what I say next because certain segments of what I say will not be on the news with the official announcement. Yes, Saki was afflicted with Apathy Syndrome if anyone asks. However, This is not the first time that Apathy Syndrome has struck. Two years ago, in the Iwatodai City area, students from Gekkoukan High School and civilians alike also were afflicted with Apathy Syndrome. For now, the Apathy Syndrome pattern has not been recognized, but two years ago, the number of people suffering from Apathy Syndrome fell after a night that had a full moon, only to spike upward as the next full moon approached. In other words, the number rose and fell as the moon phases marched on and it inexplicably ended on January first of the previous year."

As the chatter picked up again, Chie said, "Afflicted with Apathy Syndrome . . .? How could this happen . . .?" while Yosuke looked depressed and didn't say anything when the principal resumed his address. Yu also didn't say anything as he was aware that Yukiko was not at school today. When it was over, Wellington asked Yu, Chie, and Yosuke to follow him and they did so, taking their stuff with them since Wellington also added that this was going to be a one-way trip to the field base, which would take some time. When they got there, they were herded into the third vehicle hangar and onto an elevator. When Yu, Chie, Yosuke, and Wellington were on the elevator, the doors closed and then it descended. When it stopped, it opened into a small hallway that they went down before entering a large, round room. Once inside, Yu noticed that the rest of Echo Squad was already there and Nanako was also inside along with Ryotaro Dojima and Yukiko Amagi.

Enforcer explained, "I had to pick up Nanako from her elementary school while I had Dmitri get Yukiko and bring her here for this training session. In any case, head into the second door to the left of where you guys entered and head straight to enter the holo-simulator room. Also through that door and on the left is the room where we store the computer that is connected to that holographic simulation room. We nicknamed it the Bridge."

Wellington then said, "We'll set the safety parameters so that you guys will get to experience what's it like to be in a real combat scenario, but if we detect that you're in mortal peril, the simulation will automatically end. Is that okay?"

"Yes." Everyone said.

"Good. Now let's head in." Enforcer said as he accompanied them into the holo-simulator room.

"Right, now whenever a simulation is run, we always have someone in the Bridge. Right now the rest of the squad is in there. Now I will get to the stuff that you guys will need to know. Dmitri, bring up File Six-Sigma-Delta-Five-Four-Omicron-Two-Omega-Eight-Alpha-Three-Epsilon-Nine, Code name 'Shadow Combat Tutorial', and load the simulation."

"Yes sir." Dmitri said as the holo-simulator room changed its appearance from a futuristic one to a simple stone hallway.

"Right, now this simulation will test your abilities on combating what we know as Shadows. They are monsters born from human emotion that prey on human minds. Unless a human intrudes on their nests, that is the only threat that we have to deal with when facing Shadows. However, the Shadows became a threat to humanity only recently."

"Any reason why these things are only a recent threat?" Ryotaro asked.

"There is only one word that describes why: Demons."

"De- Demons?! Those things are the reason why Shadows are considered a recent threat?!"

"Our world has been invaded by demons twice so far: one of them was an incident about fourteen or fifteen years ago that we don't have the details on, and the other one was the more recent Sumaru City Incident, which happened twelve years ago. Both invasions were pushed back by Persona Users who came into contact with a spirit guide named Philemon. Shadows also surfaced around the same time as the Sumaru City Incident, but back then, the Shadows were subservient to the invading demons. As it stands now, the Shadows have become a threat of their own. Yu, take this." Enforcer said before handing Yu a katana.

"Thanks."

"Now then, I can tell that the spirit guide Philemon has been taking more of an observer role ever since the Sumaru City Incident was resolved, however, to effectively combat the Shadows, you need to have either a Persona or access to military-grade weaponry. Without those advantages, you're screwed."

Enforcer then went into further detail and explained the nature of Shadows and the Dark Hour to everyone. "Shadows can come at you from any direction, so be aware of your surroundings. In fact, a Shadow is coming right at us from the left." he said as a Slipping Hablerie appeared out of the darkness of the hallway.

Something awakened within Yu Narukami as the Shadow approached and he said, "Per. . . So. . . Na!" as he crushed a Tarot Card that had appeared in his hand. Izanagi formed when he did so and fired off a Zio spell that eliminated the Shadow.

"Good work, Narukami. However, that was one of the weaker Shadows in this simulation. These things come in different varieties and each have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it's always a good idea to have allies that have different elemental powers. Zio spells are electrical in nature, so they won't be useful on enemies that are strong against electricity." Enforcer said as he gave Yosuke a pair of wrenches, Yukiko was given a fan, Chie was given a pair of cleats that had sharp spikes on the bottom, and Nanako was given some sort of weird box that had what looked like an 'eye' at the front. A floating spherical drone three feet in height then appeared next to her, its singular 'eye' looking at Yosuke.

"That thing Nanako has is a Laser Designator. It's used in conjunction with that spherical drone to take out enemies. The designator itself marks a target for the drone to attack and the color of the laser being generated determines what weapon the drone uses on its target. For example, a purple laser marks for a missile attack from the drone." Enforcer explained as another Slipping Hablerie appeared, this time in front of the group, and Nanako marked the enemy with a purple laser. When she did that, the drone opened its sides and revealed two missile launchers that fired on the Shadow and killed it with one volley from both before they retracted back into the drone.

"Up to three missile volleys can be unleashed from both launchers when a missile attack target has been marked." Enforcer said. "Now, Yu, there's another Shadow at 12 o'clock, right in front of us. Take Yukiko, Yosuke, and Nanako with you and eliminate it. It's pretty far away, so you'll have the advantage of surprise. On the other hand, it's different than the Hablerie, so it's got different elemental properties."

"Understood." Yu said as he surprised the new Shadow, which survived a slash from his katana, but Yosuke eliminated it with a physical strike from his wrenches. Suddenly, a pair of Shadows formed and they looked like pathetic blobs that had a mask and hands. One of them tried to attack Yosuke, but he dodged it while the other went for Yukiko and was stopped by two missile volleys fired from the drone that hovered around Nanako. Yukiko then dashed up close to the blob-like Shadow and hit it several times with her fan, which knocked it down and left it vulnerable as Yukiko threw the fan at the Shadow and killed it. Her fan then inexplicably appeared back in the firm grip of her right hand.

["Excellent. You took out that Shadow and the two reinforcements that had come after you killed it. Dojima is with Chie right now and I just had them take on three of those Hablerie type Shadows."] Enforcer said to Yu before adding, ["A strong Shadow's coming for you! Defend yourself!"]

A Shadow that looked like an eagle then appeared before the group. It quickly unleashed an ice attack on all of them, which knocked down Yukiko and let the Shadow spread its wings as a poisonous mist surrounded Yosuke and his face turned purple.

["Hanamura's been poisoned! Certain attacks will inflict status ailments on combatants, so watch out. Poison will sap your physical fortitude and halve any damage inflicted by your attacks."]

Yukiko got back up and immediately used a Dis-poison on Yosuke, who then unleashed an attack that wounded the Shadow and knocked it down.

["Now's your chance! When all enemies have been knocked down, you can unleash an All-Out Attack on them for massive damage that completely ignores normal elemental parameters. To knock down enemies, inflict a critical hit or exploit their weaknesses."] Enforcer said.

"Let's go for it!" Yu said. Immediately everyone agreed with him and joined in for the All-Out Attack, which ended up generating a mushroom cloud that meant the Shadow was dead. As Chie and Ryotaro rejoined them, the wall to the left of the group broke open and a Shadow that looked like a knight riding a metallic horse appeared out of it.

["The boss of this simulation has just shown itself. It's a Hell Knight. Analysis indicates that it resists Physical, nullifies Wind, absorbs Electricity, and everything else affects it normally. Use everything that you guys have learned so far to defeat this enemy!"] Enforcer said to everyone.

Yu immediately assumed a defensive position while Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko did the same while Dojima tried to attack it, but he missed. Nanako also tried to attack, but she was successful in damaging the Hell Knight with two missile volleys. It ignores the damage caused and raised its sword up as a red aura surrounded it.

["The Hell Knight just raised its attack power! In a real mission, you'll eventually be able to do the same plus raise your defenses and agility and lower the enemy's statistics, but for now, just focus on defending against its attacks."] Enforcer said.

Everyone simply defended before the Hell Knight decided to skewer Yosuke, who was somewhat hurt by the attack, and he retaliates by attacking. Chie also attacks as does Ryotaro while Yu, Nanako, and Yukiko guarded. The Hell Knight then tries to skewer Yu, but it misses.

Attacking again, Yosuke manages to land a critical and says to Yu, "Now's our chance!"

"Let's do this." Yu calmly said. Everyone else also agreed and joined in with the All-Out Attack, which seriously injured the Hell Knight. Chie also attacked as did Nanako and Yu while Yukiko and Ryotaro guarded. The Hell Knight, instead of trying to skewer someone, decided to act smart and raised it defenses. Yu weakens it with a normal attack as does Yosuke and then a red laser marked the Shadow and the drone floated over it and opened its underside to reveal a flamethrower that roasted the Shadow and finished it off before the drone retracted the flamethrower into itself.

["Excellent! You guys have completed the simulation! On one hand, you guys have proven that you can defend yourselves if you encounter any Shadows. Om the other hand, only Yu has a Persona, so the rest of you I would not recommend getting up close until you get your Personae. Perfect for Nanako since she has a laser designator and that drone, but I can't say for sure about the rest of you."] Enforcer said as the simulation ended.

* * *

Somewhere in Inaba, 15: 35 local time.

The Reaper asked someone, "Takaya Sakaki, remember when I said that Chidori and Jin had been rebuilt as cyborgs?"

Takaya replied, "Yeah."

"I lied. Only Jin Shirato was brought back as a Cyborg. Some buddies of mine gave Chidori some cybernetics after pulling her out of the civilian hospitals. In any case, you should continue to lay low until an opportunity arises. The Shadows outside of the original nest have been gravitating away from town for some reason and I'm not sure why they are doing it." The Reaper then said.

Takaya answered, "It probably has something to do with the mercenary train coming to Inaba."

"Yeah, that's a good possibility since that train is under attack as we speak." The Reaper replied.

"Like hell that's a possibility! If there is any information on Minato Arisato, the Shadows will try to get it and attempt to kill him. Since his body is soulless, the Shadows think that he'll be an easy picking and they believe that by killing him, they can undo what that fool did." Takaya replied.

"Well then, it looks like we're going to need to cut this short. I'll be seeing you in secret."

"Take care." Takaya said as he left.


	7. Chapter 7

_Wellington looked ahead at the building, aware that anything could happen. The Shadows were prone to ambushing enemies in the dark twisting corridors of Tartarus, and climbing up the damn tower without outside support was said to be suicide. For now, no expeditions had been made into the main labyrinth, but a makeshift infirmary and supply depot had been set up inside the entrance.  
_

* * *

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter Seven

The Midnight Channel, TV Studio area, 16:14 local time.

Yu, Enforcer, Teddie, and Yosuke were standing around trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Chie had tried to attach Hanamura and Narukami on a rope, but Enforcer shot down that idea immediately since he explained that the TV portals only work when a human or Shadow heads through. After a while though, Yosuke lost his temper with Teddie and pulled off the mascot's head, revealing an empty space underneath.

Surprised, he stepped back and said, "Whoa! Wh- What the hell are you?! It's empty inside. . ."

Teddie just simply walked slowly to his head and put it back on and said, "Me, the culprit? I wouldn't do such a thing. I just live here. I just want to live here peacefully."

Yosuke was speechless to how Teddie responded and the mascot added, "Okay. I'll believe that you guys aren't the culprits just like the mercenary and his allies. But I want you to find the real guy who did all this. You have to stop him. Promise me or else I'm not gonna let you guys outta here."

Yosuke once again lost his temper and started, "You little-" before Enforcer interrupted him and said, "Whoa there, you need to calm the f*** down, buddy!" as Teddie continued, "This can't keep going on. My home here will be a complete mess! And then. . . and then. . . I. . ." before he broke down crying.

"W- What are you crying for all of a sudden?! Geez, this thing's really weirding me out." Yosuke said in an annoyed manner.

"I have a bad feeling about this. We should head to the Twisted Shopping District in this world. That's the place where my squadron and I found Saki Konishi. Of course, we only got to her after her psyche was eaten. And there's one important bit of information for you guys: it IS possible for a human being to live without their psyche or, as religious folks call it, their soul. However, without the soul or psyche, a person will be unable to move, feed, or even care for themselves. They become empty shells that are vulnerable to their surroundings." Enforcer said to everyone.

They all agreed to Enforcer's idea and went to the Twisted Shopping District, which hadn't changed at all from when Enforcer's squadron was around. "What is  **this**  place? It looks just like the shopping district. What's going on here?!" Yosuke asked. Teddie answered, "Some weird places have appeared here recently. Things are getting so tangled, I don't know what to do."

Enforcer cut in and said, "We don't have time to bicker around. Let's head into the Konishi Liquor Store of this damn place and investigate." Just before they could do so, Enforcer felt the presence of Shadows and had everyone stay put. Sure enough, two Slipping Hableries came out of the Liquor Store and Yu disposed of them by calling Izanagi, who fired off two Zio attacks. The spells knocked down and exploited each Hableries' weakness to electric attacks, allowing Yu to finish them off with a single swing from his katana. Once that was done, Enforcer went inside of the Liquor Store and Teddie, Yu, and Yosuke followed the mercenary into the main part of the store, where they began to hear voices, everyone in the room did.

"Saki, how many times do I have to tell you!?" one of the voices said, addressing someone who was not here.

"This didn't happen when I was here with my squadron earlier. Something is definitely going on." Enforcer quickly said. Suddenly, he noticed something nearby and went for the back wall. Following his lead, everyone else also got to the wall.

"These voices. . . they're all talking about Ms. Konishi." Enforcer said to Yosuke.

"Yeah. . . I'm not liking what I'm hearing." Yosuke replied.

A sinister voice then said, " **Ah, but you don't know that I like what the voices say.** "

Yosuke turned around and saw what appeared to be himself standing next to the exit. " **She was a complete waste of my time, that Saki-sempai. In fact, this ENTIRE TOWN bores me to the point that I wished _something_  would** **happen!** " the 'Other Yosuke' said.

The real Yosuke couldn't say anything in response and the other added, " **Now that a Shadow ate her mind, I can finally do something exciting! Isn't that right, me?!** "

Yosuke: "Shut up! You. . . You're not me!"

" **That's right! I am not you! Oh yeah, I can feel the power. If this keeps going, ahahaha, I'll be. . . hahahahahahahahaha!** " Shadow Yosuke said.

The Shadow then transformed into what looked like a giant frog-like entity that had a humanoid upper body intersected to the back of the frog-like body. The humanoid had two large gloves for hands, a helmet that had no eyes, and a red scarf around its neck. The frog body had two large eyes and a weird 'mask-like' feature on its face.

Shadow Yosuke finally spoke, " **I am a Shadow, the true self. I'll crush everything that bores me.** "

The monster then pointed at Yu with a finger from one of its gloves and added, " **Starting with YOU!** " as Yu got away from Yosuke and guarded as the Shadow hit Narukami with a wind attack.

Enforcer shouted to Yu, "I'm sure that the enemy is weak to electric attacks."

Yu decided to follow Enforcer's logic and sure enough, the Shadow was weak to electric when the Zio spell that was unleashed knocked it down. Yu then used the opportunity provided by calling Izanagi, who put up a blue aura around him. The Shadow got back up and didn't attack, but it focused for one. Yu attacked again, firing off Zio and then guarding when the opportunity provided when the Shadow got knocked down presented itself. Before long, the Shadow attacked by slapping Narukami, which had almost no effect due to Yu guarding and the blue aura around him reducing the damage.

"I can detect that you increased your defenses, Narukami. That's good, you can't let your guard down around an enemy." Enforcer said to Yu.

Yu fired off two Zio spells in quick succession, the first knocking down Shadow Yosuke and allowing him to fire off the second attack while the second hit the Shadow again and seemingly rendering it dizzy, but it simply got back up and guarded. Yu immediately guarded and the pattern that been set up continued until Shadow Yosuke was defeated.

" **Damn you to hell!** " the Shadow yelled as it collapsed and regressed back into its normal form.

* * *

Yasoinaba Station, 16:45 local time.

"Any idea on what's going on, Dmitri?" a random mercenary asked.

"Yeah. With how things are currently going regarding the train transporting Minato Arisato here, it's going to take only eight more hours before it arrives here at the station." Dmitri replied.

"Wow, the Shadows must be trying to kill him now that he's vulnerable."

"You got that right. Normal humans can't notice them at night, but if they attack during the day, holy shit there's going to be a panic."

"Okay, now I wonder why THOSE Shadows haven't been appearing yet."

"The New Moon isn't until the third of May."

"Yeah, that's true, but Intel suggested to me earlier that one of THEM is lurking around inside the TV world."

"Well. . . Shit, I hadn't thought of that."

"And now look at the time."

"It's only 17:00 hours. No shit."


	8. Chapter *

Yasoinaba Station, Saturday, April 16, 01: 00 local time.

The black train had finally arrived. The mercenary presence was very large: four M-1 Abrams tanks, sixteen Black Hawk helicopters, nearly 5,000 soldiers, thirty-five jeeps, and forty Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers. The reason for this massive presence was to stop any Shadows from interfering with the objective of the mercenaries: get Minato Arisato, former leader of S.E.E.S. and currently ailing from Apathy Syndrome induced by giving up his soul to create the Great Seal, to Inaba Municipal Hospital. About twelve to thirteen months ago, the media erroneously claimed that Arisato had died after he had collapsed on the roof of Gekkoukan High School and the story was almost accepted as fact until Ghost Force 969 stepped in after the organization experienced a shift in management. The new leadership immediately suppressed the false story and revealed a dark truth: Minato had fallen into a coma instead of dying, and that he had been influential in curbing Apathy Syndrome during the 2009-2010 school year. In a fit of irony, the cover story given to the media by the mercenaries said that he himself had fallen to it. Regardless, the mercenaries were at Yasoinaba Station to ensure that Minato got to Inaba Municipal Hospital.

The doors of the train opened and out onto the platform came a squadron of mercenaries that were wheeling Minato to an ambulance that had been commandeered for their purposes. Once they confirmed that he was inside and secured, the ambulance drove off to its destination.

Enforcer saw how well things had turned out so far and said over to Yu, "We know about this guy because we were in Iwatodai City about a year ago and the media thought that he was dead. We proved them wrong and as it stands right now, he is unable to even care for himself."

Another mercenary rushed by and said, "Guys, you're not going to believe this!"

Enforcer swore under his breath and said, "What's going on?"

The unnamed mercenary said, "There's another dead body, this one hanging from a mother-freaking telephone pole!"

Enforcer signaled for Yu to accompany him and the two of them followed the mercenary to where he had found the corpse. Sure enough, it was hanging from a telephone pole, but the victim. . .

Enforcer then said, "We haven't done DNA tests yet, so we don't know who the poor sap was. Do you know him?"

Yu looked at the body and then said, "It's Arisato Natazaka. But why was he killed, even though Saki Konishi was the one who found Mayumi Yamano's body?"

"It might have been because my squadron and I had rescued Saki from the TV world. Of course, a Shadow had gotten to her and eaten her soul, so things aren't exactly as we had planned. The main point was, we got her out alive, and that was it. We now need a motive behind this."

"The motive behind Natazaka's demise was probably because he had started a protection racket in town, but the cause of death is unknown, just like the announcer. If I had to guess, his clients were most likely from the Central Shopping District, because I know from Yosuke that Saki had talked to Arisato a few times in the past. The killer must have targeted him because there's a possibility that Saki gave Natazaka some of the details of the crime scene or some other information that only the killer would know before she was incapacitated."

"So it was to keep him silent. Does that sound right?"

" _Da_. There's no other reason or motive behind his death."

" _Spasibo_ , Yu Narukami. Now as for why Yukiko showed up in the Midnight Channel, the killer must have begun targeting at random. Mount a rescue operation and if possible, kill the Shadow that had taken Saki's soul. Unfortunately we have our own Shadow problems to deal with."

* * *

The Sea of Souls, the Great Seal.

The two-headed monster known as Erebus lied on the ground, defeated again.

 **"This has got to be some kind of bullshit! Why can't I WIN? Is it because I don't know about anything other than destruction and killing all humans, huh? Answer me, you bitch of an elevator attendant!"**  it roared defiantly at Elizabeth.

A man who also looked like an elevator attendant appeared next to Elizabeth and said, "Such hateful language! I'm afraid that you simply cannot be allowed to refer to a lady like that. Shall we do him in, Sis?"

"Theodore, you didn't have to come. But let's take this garbage out." She said to her brother.

Elizabeth teleported Erebus, herself, and Theodore to the Moon and then the two siblings unleashed the Fusion Raid Armageddon, which reduced Erebus's form to a lowly Cowardly Maya.

 **"Grr. I will regain my power eventually, and when I do, I'm so going to enjoy torturing you BOTH before killing you! Consider this a warning that I will come back to fulfill this."**  Erebus said in his weak form before teleporting away.

The two Velvet Room siblings went back to the Great Seal, but when they arrived, it was starting to give off an energy reaction. Elizabeth dreaded this because she knew what this meant: something was now trying to break  _out_  of the Seal.

The energy reaction quickly subsided, but then a demon appeared in front of the Great Seal, facing away from it.

 **"Finally, I have come out of that accursed Seal. However, I will need to restore my power before killing the boy. Wait a minute, what that sound?"**  The demon said before it turned towards the Seal.

It glowed white and then it started to crack.  **"Aw, shit!"**  the Demon swore before it teleported away. The Great Seal then disappeared completely as in its place, a humanoid appeared.

"Well, this is an unexpected turn of events. I imagine that there is no Red Substance here. It looks like I'll just have to do someth- wait a minute, I know what must be done." It said in an evil tone before it looked coldly at Nyx.

 **"Who are you, and why is that blue-hair not stopping Erebus?"**  the Night Queen asked the humanoid.

"I am Sakahagi, and don't bother as to why he's not here. I have arrived to kill you." the humanoid said before the ground below him rose as another Great Seal appeared.

"FUTOMIMI! I KNEW THAT IF ANYONE WOULD REPLACE THE SEAL, IT WOULD  _HAD_  TO HAVE BEEN  _THAT_  USELESS SACK OF MAGATSUHI!" Sakahagi yelled.

* * *

Over the next two days, Yu Narukami and the newly-created Investigation Team prepared to enter the TV World to launch and begin an operation to rescue Yukiko Amagi. On one of those days, specifically April 17th, they found out from Tunazu that they were needed at the base. Once there, in command center. . .

"Well, we know that it's been while since you last interacted with anyone, but why don't you introduce yourself to these guys?" Enforcer said to a recently awakened Minato Arisato.

Minato nodded his head in an agreeing manner and said, "Hello. My name is Minato Arisato. Who are you?"

Yu, Yosuke, and Chie introduced themselves to Minato and then Wellington came in and said, "Starting on Tuesday, April 19, Minato will be joining you at Yasogami High School as a third-year student. We'll handle getting his school stuff for now, but we're not sure where he's going to stay."

"Well, I don't know either. Has anyone contacted the Kirijo Group yet?"

"Yeah. I was in contact with Mitsuru earlier and she said that herself, Fuuka Yamagishi, and Akihiko Sanada are going to arrive in a few days. Until they arrive, I recommend that you stay with us here at one of Ghost Force 969's field bases."

"I can handle that."

As everyone left, Enforcer let out a sigh of relief as he went to his office and notified Aiko that her friend had awakened and that her discharge had been moved ahead to next Sunday. She was also told that she would also enroll into Yasogami High as a third-year student using her identity from before she was taken in by the 969.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N: three things to address:
> 
> First off, Aiko is the Female Protagonist from Persona 3 Portable. Her backstory is that she was a childhood friend of Minato back when his parents were still alive. She had been caught in the same Dark Hour related incident that killed Minato's parents and she herself nearly died from what had happened. A mercenary who was on the Moonlit Bridge at the time acted quickly to save her life and was successful. That mercenary who saved her is named, but the name itself will be something that will be addressed in a later chapter. Her survival was covered up by Ghost Force 969, who were the ones who had employed the soldier that saved her life and they took her in immediately. Aiko was the name given to her by the mercenaries, and she has been using it for 12 years. As for her old identity, her name was Minako Kujikawa, and she is the older sister of Rise. This information was something I thought up in my spare time.
> 
> Second, Minato had been using aliases for the ten years between the death of his parents and his junior year at Gekkoukan, with Makoto Yuuki being the most commonly used one since he used that alias during his stay in Iwatodai City. He only used his real name Minato Arisato during the school year before he was in Gekkoukan High.
> 
> Lastly, Futomimi replacing Minato as the Great Seal was also something that I thought up in my spare time.


	9. Flashback 1: Kill Ikutsuki

Iwatodai City, November 4th, 2009, Dark Hour local time.

"Well, so far nothing has changed." Dmitri said to Enforcer.

"HQ will try to contact us for a new objective. I suspect that Shuji Ikutsuki is up to something." Enforcer replied.

HQ transmitted to Enforcer's radio, "Enforcer, Dmitri, we have determined that Shuji Ikutsuki is trying to bring about the Fall judging by the data that you have sent us. Your orders are to kill him."

"Understood, HQ." Enforcer transmitted before cutting the channel and saying, "Well, we have our work cut out for us. You still have that .50 caliber on you, Dmitri?"

"Yeah. I also still have the RPG-7 on me." Dmitri replied.

"Good. We may have to destroy Aegis. Tunazu, you still around?"

"Yeah. I've got my eyes on the section of Gekkoukan High's observatory that became part of Tartarus. Enforcer, you should head to my position so that we can get a clear shot." Tunazu transmitted on a local channel.

"Alright. I'm heading to you."

Dmitri then gave Enforcer the .50 caliber rifle and the two mercenaries split off.

At Tunazu's position, the mercenary nervously looked around, certain that he might be attacked. It took about ten minutes before Enforcer finally arrived and an additional four minutes were spent preparing for the shot.

"The Coriolis effect won't affect the bullet's path since there's no wind right now. Keep an eye on the entryway so that an ambush will fail." Enforcer commanded.

"Understood." Tunazu replied.

Enforcer waited and watched as Ikutsuki emerged onto the platform and made his way to several makeshift crosses with Aegis accompanying him. Aegis also dragged along the unconscious members of the Special Extracurricular Execution Squad and was just about to start tying Minato onto one of the crosses when Dmitri emerged and gave Enforcer a signal. It meant, 'Now's the time to strike.'

Enforcer then took the opportunity and fired a single bullet. It was heard by Aegis, but she reacted and moved too late to knock Ikutsuki out of the shot's path and watched as the bullet sped towards Ikutsuki. . .

And his head exploded in a bloody mess of gore as the bullet hit him and continued on into the night.

"Ikutsuki is dead. Now get moving and subdue Aegis, Dmitri!" Enforcer transmitted.

Aegis tried to move, but Dmitri fired the Rocket-Propelled Grenade at the Anti-Shadow Weapon and the explosive hit her in the chest, knocking her onto the ground and in a few split seconds the Russian was on her and pinning her, preventing her from moving while Enforcer and Tunazu immediately abandoned their perch and made an escape.

Takeharu Kirijo finally emerged onto the platform and asked Dmitri, "What happened here, and Who are you?"

"First off, I'm not in a good position to answer questions right now. Second, don't you have more important things to worry about? Lastly, it's already obvious."

A Black Hawk suddenly flew by and started hovering towards the platform. Once it was close enough, it opened the doors of its passenger compartment as Enforcer transmitted from the cockpit, "Dmitri, we need to get out of here. Get on-board the helicopter." Swiftly, the mercenary let go of Aegis and went for the copter, reaching it and getting on as it began to fly away from Tartarus. Once the Black Hawk was about thirty feet away, it closed its passenger compartment doors and it lowered its altitude as it flew away from the city.

Takeharu stood still, shocked at what had happened just a few minutes ago. He then looked around him and let out a sigh of relief that no one had been crucified. He then asked Aegis, "What did Ikutsuki try to have you do?"

The machine replied, "I was ordered to sacrifice the members of S.E.E.S. in order to bring forth the Fall."

"Disregard that order. Ikutsuki is dead now. As for you, Aegis, you are confined to the laboratory until diagnostics can be performed on you."

"Understood." Aegis said in a disappointed manner as she got up and left. Kirijo then noticed Koromaru wake up Minato and Mitsuru before howling at the dead body of Shuji Ikutsuki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Takeharu Kirijo will be playing an important role in this story later on. I'll explain him not being leader of the Kirijo Group despite being alive by him having retired after the formation of the Nyx Annihilation Team and leaving for an unspecified location. I will also say that Enforcer and Dmitri actually knew the truth about what happened despite not being at Port Island when the Death Experiment was interrupted. This is because they cracked past Kirijo Group security and managed to get Eiichiro Takeba's original message instead of Ikutsuki's doctored version.


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have a ton of shit to sift around before it can be a problem. The shit: Personas, the Fiends and abilities. Future shit is probably going to be so large that it might have to be split into TWO author's notes, one at the beginning of the chapter and one at the end of the chapter.
> 
> Well, we have some abilities in this story that are not in the game.
> 
> Persona abilities from this story introduced in this chapter: War Cry, Red Capote, Taunt, Focus, Pierce.
> 
> War Cry: decreases the strength of the next Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind, or Almighty skill or normal attack used by one enemy to 1/5 and lowers their attack by 40% for three turns. Power reduction negates and is negated by Power Charge or Mind Charge while attack reduction negates and is negated by Dekunda or Tarukaja. Costs 24 SP.
> 
> Red Capote: raises one character's hit/evasion by 250% for three turns. Exclusive to Matador. Costs 24 SP.
> 
> Taunt: Enrages all enemies and increases their attack and hit/evasion by 40% for three turns while reducing their defense by 40% for three turns. Exclusive to Strength Arcana Personae, Yoshitsune, and Fiend Bosses. Costs 20 SP.
> 
> Focus: Ensures that the next attack that hits an enemy will be a critical hit. Costs 18 SP.
> 
> Pierce: Bypasses all means of elemental protection except Absorb. Ignores Supreme Insight. Passive Ability.
> 
> Neo Orpheus
> 
> Description: Scientists began a massive project to create robotic soldiers to combat the Shadows as early as the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, and their first attempt at creating an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon happened to have succeeded a little too well. Now given life again by advanced technology, Orpheus embarks on a journey to find the one who will put an end to human sacrifice after escaping the laboratory.
> 
> Arcana: World
> 
> Current Level: 21
> 
> Abilities: War Cry, Agilao, Bufula, Megido, Power Slash (LV 22), Focus (LV 23), Diarahan (LV 33), Arms Master (LV 35), Megidola (LV 38), Agidyne (LV 43), Bufudyne (LV 46), Ziodyne (LV 51), Torrent Shot (LV 60), Megidolaon (LV 65), Spell Master (LV 85), Pierce (LV 97).
> 
> Resistances and Weaknesses: Resists Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind, Light, and Dark.
> 
> Finally, I decided to take a liberty from Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne by having Fiend battles set around. All Fiends are Personae that have to be fought first before they can be summoned, and they all bear the Death Arcana. Here's Matador's stats.
> 
> Fiend Matador
> 
> HP: 1000
> 
> SP: 800
> 
> Resistances and Weaknesses: Immune to Wind, Light, Dark, and all status changes.
> 
> Abilities: Red Capote, Taunt, Rampage, Power Charge, Dekunda, Tarukaja, Focus.

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 9

The Midnight Channel, Inside the Castle, Saturday, April 23, 15: 26 local time.

It took only two trips, but now the Investigation Team, whose members were Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, Teddie, and Minato Arisato, had managed to reach the top floor of the TV world dungeon that was known as Yukiko's Castle. Enforcer accompanied them on this trip since he didn't have anything that required his attention for the afternoon, and he proved to be a valuable ally since he knew the strengths and weaknesses of the random Shadows in the dungeon.

"She is probably in the room behind this door. I hope you guys are ready." the mercenary said.

The members of the Investigation Team nodded in agreement and then opened the door, revealing a large room. There were two Yukikos inside, but Enforcer knew that one of them was a Shadow.

As soon as the Shadow began to speak, Enforcer whispered to everyone, "Aw shit. I don't think it would be a good idea to try to prevent Yukiko from denying her Shadow, so we should stay silent and get ready to kick some ass."

Sure enough, after a bit of talking, Yukiko shouted at the Shadow, "You're not me!" and it immediately started gaining strength as it leapt to the chandelier and transformed. The chandelier crashed down towards the real Yukiko, but Izanagi formed and intercepted it before the furniture piece could crash on top of the heiress to the Amagi Inn, giving Yu enough time to get her out of the way. He placed her behind a pillar while Minato summoned his persona, Neo Orpheus, and slapped Shadow Yukiko with War Cry.

The Shadow attacked Chie normally, but the damage was negligible due to the attack's reduced power. She fired off a Skull Cracker in retaliation and harmed the Shadow, which looked like a large bird in a golden cage.

Shadow Yukiko quickly summoned something that resembled a prince after Minato attacked again, at which point the blue-haired boy focused on taking out the new enemy. Yu also shifted his attention to the enemy reinforcement and attacked it as did Yosuke. Chie also joined in on attacking the Charming Prince, allowing Minato to shift his attention back to the Shadow, which was trying to attack Yosuke. After about five or seven minutes, the Charming Prince was defeated. Shadow Yukiko tried to summon it again, but failed since it would not answer.

Enforcer caught on to what was going on and said to Yu and his allies, "No reinforcements will come. Now's your chance to attack!" They decided to do so and some time into the fight, the Shadow decried them, calling them worthless commoners and unleashed a nasty fire attack that would have caused some problems if War Cry wasn't in effect since it got applied again before Shadow Yukiko could act. Chie had guarded before the attack came since she was weak to fire attacks, preventing the Shadow from being able to act for while.

After another round of attacks from the Investigation Team, Shadow Yukiko flat-out used a powerful physical attack on Yosuke, knocking him down and then attacked him again, rendering him unconscious. Before the Shadow could retreat back into its cage however, Izanagi fired off a Zionga spell that hit it.

" **NO!** " Shadow Yukiko yelled as the cage crashed to the ground, taking the chunk of ceiling that the chandelier was attached to with it and the stone completely crushed the cage and its Shadow resident, stirring up dust in the process.

After it settled, the Shadow had regressed back into its normal form, but its clothing was heavily damaged and tattered.

"Ugh." the real Yukiko grunted as she got onto her feet. At the same time, Yosuke woke up and managed to barely stand.

Yu noticed and said to her, "Are you alright, Yukiko?"

Yukiko nodded in agreement and then noticed the Shadow. "No. . . I'm not-" she began to say.

Yosuke interrupted her thought and said, "We understand. You're not the only one like that, Yukiko-san. Everyone has something they can't show to other people, or don't want to admit to themselves."

After about a few minutes of talking with everyone present, Yukiko finally mustered up the courage necessary to face herself and accepted her Shadow, which transformed into the Persona Konohana Sakuya. After that was done, Yu felt the presence of something that brought out an emotion that he didn't experience before: Fear.

"The ever-long pursuit of truth beckons me to the battlefield! I do not know who your are, but. . . If you intend to seek the truth, then it is our destiny to fight!" a voice that definitely belonged to whatever was terrifying Yu Narukami echoed.

Yu then said, "I accept your challenge, whoever is there."

The voice replied, "Well then, let us duel to the death within my realm, where no one can interrupt us! Your friends shall come too, by the way."

An orange vortex then appeared below Yu, Chie, Minato, and Yukiko, sucking them in before it disappeared.

* * *

Unknown Realm.

Yu immediately landed on his feet and was surprised that none of his bones had broke. Looking at his surroundings, he noticed that he was standing alone on a red plain. The sky of the realm was quite erratic too. Yu then noticed Yukiko falling towards him from above and caught her in his arms before setting her onto her feet. Chie and Minato quickly ran by and rejoined.

The terrifying voice returned and said, "Only one of our two teams will escape this domain alive. The team who wins will get closer to the truth and return to the normal realm in triumph. You seek the truth. . . then, like me, you must be seeking to ensure that Hope passes the test."

A skeleton wearing a matador's outfit appeared in front of everyone and said, "Only the strongest can be allowed to represent Hope in the test to see what humanity truly wishes, but I know that you have a mystery forced upon you to prevent the truth from being seen. This test is meant for a master swordsman that has put an end to countless lives amidst blood and applause. . . That warrior is I, Matador. It is unfortunate that we have no spectators, but I believe this will be an excellent show regardless, as you and I contend to solve the case. Unfortunately, the case cannot be solved by mundane means. You should leave it to someone more supernaturally experienced, like myself. . . But, since it is unlikely that you'll heed my advice. . ."

Matador raised his sword and continued, "I challenge you to fight to see which one of us is truly worthy of solving the case. . . I swear by my Sword and Capote that once again I shall prove victorious! Now let the battle begin."

It immediately began as Yu, Minato, Yukiko, and Chie felt a cool breeze refresh them. Matador then quipped, "Charge me with all your strength! Your horns cannot pierce my soul! Red Capote!" as he increased his agility.

Minato quickly slapped War Cry on Matador as Yu had Izanagi increase his attack power with Tarukaja. Yosuke quickly cast Dekaja on Matador to get rid of Red Capote's effect, but the embodiment of death simply cast it on himself again, prompting Yukiko to use a Purifying Water to cancel it out again. Minato attacked Matador and managed to land a critical hit on the Fiend, allowing the team to follow up with an All-Out Attack. Yu then had Izanagi use Cleave on the Matador and Chie attacked with a Black Spot.

Matador then said, "Impressive. . . but the moment of truth is beyond your grasp. . . I alone can discern it!" as he focused. Yukiko fired off an Agi spell at Matador, which hit and allowed Minato to unleash a Bufula attack that also hit. Yu used a normal attack as did Chie, but when they were done attacking, Matador made a gesture with his sword that meant, 'Bring It.' and enraged everyone. Yukiko threw her fan accurately at Matador and hit the Fiend and repeated the action. Minato also unleashed two powerful normal attacks as did Yu and Chie. After that round of attacks, Matador simply hit everyone hard with a Rampage attack that criticaled and followed it up with Tarukaja. Yukiko was nearly unconscious, but recovered from her rage and healed while Minato unleashed two normal attacks again. Yu also attacked twice and the second strike defeated the Fiend and allowed him, Chie, and Minato to calm down.

Yu Narukami noticed something appear where Matador once stood and picked it up. It was a Candelabrum that that had the Kanji for 'Foundation' written on it.


	11. Chapter 10

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 10

Ghost Force 969 Field Base, command center, Sunday, April 24th, 2011, 9 days before next New Moon, Morning.

"Hello everyone. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, current leader of the Kirijo Group." Mitsuru said as she introduced herself to the Investigation Team and their members excluding Minato did the same.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you, Mitsuru." Minato calmly said.

"I know. It's surprising that you're still alive right now. In any case, Fuuka Yamagishi and Akihiko are also here."

After a short reunion between the former members of S.E.E.S. that took only five minutes, Fuuka and Akihiko introduced themselves to Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, and Yukiko Amagi and after they did so, Enforcer came in and said, "With all that done, where the hell is Minato going to stay for his final year of high school? Until you guys came, he had to stay here on the base."

"Yeah, about that, Akihiko, do I still own any residences in the area?" Mitsuru asked the former boxer.

"Yeah, there's that house near Yasogami High. I don't even know why your father Takeharu even purchased it." Akihiko replied.

"It's probably best not to think about his reasons for buying it."

"In any case, I assume that it's alright if Minato stays there?" Enforcer asked.

"You are correct."

"Good, because there is one other person that just happens to have been a childhood friend of his. She's been with us for past twelve years now and she's currently being discharged from our ranks. Now if you excuse me, I have to deal with some stuff in my office."

Enforcer then left. Meanwhile, in the weapons development lab, Dmitri was busy overseeing the scientists that were carefully studying the properties of the core essences. Tunazu walked in and said to the Russian, "How goes the study of the core essences?"

"It's been slow as hell, Tunazu. The core essences have been trickier than we expected to get any accurate data from them. It's probably going to be a few months before we can even think about how to use these in a weapon." he replied.

Fifty minutes later in the command center, Enforcer was once again standing around with Minato and everyone else present, but now there was an auburn-haired girl standing next to the mercenary. She wore a black uniform jacket and black and white checkered skirt, immediately telling the Investigation Team in a subtle manner that she would be attending Yasogami High since she was wearing the female uniform. "If anyone asks, this person is who I was referring to when I said that she happened to be a childhood friend of Minato Arisato." Enforcer said before he shifted his attention to the girl and then said to her, "Now I know that it's been awhile since you last interacted with civilians, but why don't you introduce yourself?"

The auburn-haired girl nodded in agreement before she then said, "Hello, and who are you people? My name is Minako Kujikawa."

Minato, who was asleep, immediately woke up and inquired, "Kujikawa? Is that really you, Minako?"

"Oh, I didn't recognize you were asleep over there, Minato."

After the Investigation Team plus Akihiko, Mitsuru, and Fuuka had introduced themselves to Minako, Enforcer then said, "Don't worry about where Minako has to stay. I was able to get in contact with the owner of the Marukyu Tofu Shop in town and apparently she was surprised to hear that Minako is alive. Apparently the owner of that place is Miss Kujikawa's grandmother. Dmitri, where are you?"

Wellington came in through another door and said, "Dmitri is currently unavailable. He's overseeing the scientists that are studying the core essences. What do you need, Leader?"

"We need to look at Minako's DNA records and then from there we'll have to take appropriate measures to ensure to make sure that she is kept up-to-date with how things have been going so far in the investigation." Enforcer ordered.

"Understood, commander." Wellington replied as he left. Yu then heard a voice in his head say,  _"Thou art I and I am thou. Thou hast established a new bond. It brings thee closer to the truth. Thou shalt have our blessings when thou choosest to create a Persona of the World Arcana."_  while Minato heard,  _"Thou art I and I am thou. Thou hast rediscovered old bonds. Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create Personae of the Empress and Priestess Arcana."_

* * *

The TV world, Monday, April 25th, 8 days before next New Moon, morning.

Sakahagi continued to run, aware that he was being pursued by something. He stopped after assessing the situation and then decided to attack whatever was following him, and he ended up completely butchering a Selfish Basalt. After he was done, he calmly walked away from the dead Shadow, his eyesight not even affected by the fog.

Back in the real world, specifically a third-year classroom at Yasogami High School, Minako was standing in front of the students of class 3-A as she was introduced to the other students by none other than Noriko Kashiwagi. After she was done speaking, Minako looked around for an empty seat and found one right next to a desk that was occupied by Minato. The other students immediately started chatting with each other as soon as she sat down.

"Right now wouldn't be a good time to try to flirt with me. Honestly, you have been out of my life for so long that I have completely forgotten how you are grade-wise in school. That, and I might have an anxiety attack sometime down the road as a result of my soul having been cooped up in some seal for two years." Minato whispered to her.

"I'm typically a straight-A student from what I could remember from before I was enlisted in the mercenaries." She whispered back.

"Alright. Now the seat ahead of me was not occupied, but that is because the person who sits there, Saki Konishi, had her soul eaten by Shadows. More details after school at the Junes food court."

Once school was over, Yu sent out a text message to the members of the Investigation Team that there wouldn't be a trip into the TV world for quite some time since Yukiko was still recovering and ended up receiving a text from Minato stating that he was simply gathering a meeting at the food court to assess the current situation. Yu then replied that he was going to join one of the culture clubs at school and Minato gave him directions as to where the Drama Club and Music Club met. Once everyone else was at the food court, Minato and Yosuke went over the current situation and caught up Minako with what had already happened.

"Interesting. It matches up with the Intelligence that the 969 have been gathering." Minako said.

"What can we expect? There really hasn't been any Shadow activity on this side, but that's because Shadow activity seems to fluctuate with the phases of the moon." Minato replied before continuing, "For some odd reason, the first two victims of the serial murder case were female. Saki had been pushed into the TV World, but the Mercenaries got here out of there before the fog lifted, which may have prevented her from dying since according to Teddie, the Shadows in the TV World get aggressive whenever the fog lifts."

After a while, the meeting was called off and people started leaving. When Minato was about to exit the department store, Minako said for him to wait up and he did. When she got to him, she now carried a bag that Minato assumed had clothing inside.

"I guess you went shopping for clothes when the meeting ended." Minato said to her.

"Yep. Also, Minato, who do you think you'll end up with?"

Minato blushed slightly and answered, "I guess I'll probably end up being with you. I don't know Chie or Yukiko well enough and from what information I could gather online, Rise Kujikawa is currently touring around Japan right now."

Minako then set her bags down and walked up to Minato and said to him flirtatiously, "I like honest answers. We know each other quite well, so do you want to start dating with me?"

"Sure. It will definitely help."

Minako then picked up her bags and walked with him to the Samegawa Flood Plain after she dropped her bags off at her house. Once at the flood plain, she grabbed Minato's right hand and pressed it against her breasts after she made sure that no one was watching. She then said, "I think we'll get along as lovers. Thank you for accepting to date me." as Minato blushed from embarrassment.

The two of them then left the Samegawa Flood Plain holding their hands together. As they did so, Minato heard a voice in his head say,  _"Thou art I and I am Thou. Thou hast established a new bond. It brings thee closer to the truth. Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the World Arcana."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are differences between Minako Kujikawa and Hamuko Arisato, but it mostly sticks to their personalities.
> 
> Minako is quite flirty and isn't afraid to overtly tease guys sexually. This is something that is implied to be hereditary since Rise is also flirty when around Yu/Souji, but not as blatant. Minako is also somewhat perverted and she does not mind if a guy peeps on her while bathing, tries to peek up her skirt, or does other perverted activities so long as it is Minato who does it. Anyone else will get slapped.
> 
> Hamuko is more protective of her friends despite not having appeared yet, and she is slightly more impulsive and cheerful than her brother.
> 
> Yes, Hamuko and Minako are separate characters in this story. Now Hamuko wasn't caught in the car crash that killed Minato's parents due to her being in the hospital for a broken arm. After the doctors learned about the accident, she was put into the care of the Kirijo Group and sent to Inaba, where she's been quietly living a normal life.
> 
> You might be wondering why Minato has Social Links being rediscovered, but that's simple. He's rediscovering the bonds of friendship that he established during the events of Persona 3 and when I get to a good point, Aegis (I'm using the Japanese version of Aigis's name) will meet with Minato and he'll get his Wild Card ability back. He'll still be using Neo Orpheus frequently.


	12. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Persona Abilities introduced in this chapter: Beast Eye, Fog Breath, Needle Rush, Mega-Debilitate.
> 
> Beast Eye: gives the caster two 'One More' turns. Cost: 1 SP
> 
> Fog Breath: lowers the hit/evasion of all enemies by 80% for three turns. Cost: 30 SP
> 
> Needle Rush: deals light Physical damage to an enemy once or twice, has a chance to inflict Exhaustion. Cost: 5% HP
> 
> Mega-Debilitate: Lowers the attack, defense, and hit/evasion of all enemies by 40% for three turns. Cost: 48 SP
> 
> Eurydice
> 
> Description: The wife of Orpheus, she was the inspiration behind his music. Not much is known about her other than that.
> 
> Arcana: Fool XXII
> 
> Current level: 22
> 
> Abilities: Tarunda, Nervundi, Megido, Fatal End, Matarunda (LV 25), Fog Breath (LV 30), Invigorate 2 (LV 35), Megidola (LV 45), Amrita (LV 50), Unshaken Will (LV 55), Megidolaon (LV 65), Mega-Debilitate (LV 77), Spell Master (LV 85), Pierce (LV 97).
> 
> Resistances and Weaknesses: Resists Physical, Fire, Ice, Electric, Wind, Light, and Dark.
> 
> Smirking and the Shadow-controlled tank asking Yu a question are mechanics taken from SMT IV. Smirking grants maxed out attack and loss of weakness for one turn. Bosses in SMT IV will ask the protagonist questions when their health reaches a certain amount. Here, the Shadow controlled tank had only a third of its health left when it asked Yu if humans had no limits.

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 11

Over the next few days, Yu Narukami was busy with Social Links, which worked out well considering that he could not ignore his wild card ability. On a few occasions he was able to talk with Fuuka and Mitsuru and found out from them that Mitsuru would have to leave with Akihiko on the 5th of May while Fuuka would remain in Inaba.

May 3rd, a Tuesday, was the day that a new moon would be in the sky at night. Yu took note of that when he went to the Junes Department Store with Nanako that day and after he had established the Justice Social Link with her, he received a message from Enforcer telling him to bring the members to the Investigation Team to the field base immediately. He did so and when everyone was at the base, Enforcer said that they would need to conserve their strength for tonight.

Later, near midnight. . .

Enforcer, Yu, the other members of the Investigation Team, Fuuka, and Dmitri were inside the command center, discussing the importance of tonight's mission.

Enforcer said, "We believe that a powerful Shadow will appear tonight. There's a New Moon in the sky, which means that one of 'those Shadows' is going to appear."

Minato then inquired, "What do you exactly mean by 'those Shadows' because for all we know, you could be talking about any group of Shadows?"

"Specifically, I refer to the New Moon Shadows. Unlike normal Shadows, the New Moon Shadows do not fall into any of the 12 categories that normal ones are grouped in."

The PA turned on and announced, "Warning: the Dark Hour is approaching! Warning: the Dark Hour is approaching!" and then the power went off, only for the back-up supply to activate.

Once the back-up power was on, Enforcer then heard Wellington say from his radio, "Commander, we have a problem."

The mercenary then said, "What is it?"

"A Shadow just entered the Inaba area, but this one's behavior is. . . different."

"In what way is the Shadow's behavior different?"

"It. . . It's using a tank. Schematics reveal that the model came from a heavily-militarized era of Japan's history. Wellington out."

Enforcer then said, "Well, let's neutralize the Shadow. Judging by its movement, well be able to intercept it in the Central Shopping District."

Yosuke, looking puzzled, asked, "Seriously, a tank?! A Shadow took over a tank?!"

Fuuka then said, "Correct. In a previous mission two years ago, two Shadows had also taken control of a tank and used it in their battle against my allies in the Special Extracurricular Execution Squad. The tank involved in that mission ended up being destroyed in order to defeat the Shadows that had taken it over."

Inaba, Central Shopping District South, Dark Hour local time.

The tank rolled along the street silently, aware that it would find its target soon. It scanned the area and determined that its target was not in any of the buildings in the southern part of the Shopping District. It moved to the edge of the northern part and then stopped before it began scanning the area again. This time it found its target in the Konishi Liquor Store and prepared a Canister Shell, a tank round that packs multiple explosives into a single shot, in case it needed to flush its target out into the open.

The Shadow controlling the tank then spoke through the tank's speaker systems,  **"TARGET ACQUIRED. PROCEEDING TO ATTACK."**  as it rolled along the road and stopped in front of the Liquor Store.

"SEARCHING FOR TARGET." the Shadow said as it scanned for its prey. It eventually found it and said,  **"TARGET FOUND. TARGET IDENTIFIED AS NAOKI KONISHI. CANISTER SHELL READY TO FIRE."**  as it adjusted its aim, unaware that Minato, Yu, Yukiko, and Minako were nearby and out of the Shadow's sight.

A middle-aged man came out of the store and yelled, "What the hell's going on?! Why has all the water turned to blood and what's with this green color?!" unaware that the Shadow was scanning him. When the scan completed, it then said,  **"YOU ARE NOT NAOKI KONISHI. NEVERTHELESS, YOU SHALL NOT INTERFERE."**  and fired past the man and into the Liquor Store. The subsequent explosions caused fires inside and Naoki rushed out of the store.

The Shadow then scanned Naoki and said,  **"TARGET LOCKED-ON. HARVESTING AMMUNITION LOADED."**  as it aimed at the younger brother of Saki Konishi.

Yu, Minato, Minako, and Yukiko moved close to the Shadow but before they could attack, the Shadow fired and hit Naoki in the chest with what appeared to be a purple sphere of energy. Naoki's eyes closed, but his mouth opened and a blue ethereal sphere came out as he fell onto his back and it was pulled to the Shadow, which absorbed it. The Shadow then noticed that it had a mini-gun above its main cannon. It turned around and saw Yu and said  **"ENEMIES DETECTED. SYSTEMS SWITCHED TO BATTLE MODE."**  as its eyes turned from their normal yellow color to red.

Yu summoned Izanagi and fired off Zionga, but the spell hardly dealt any damage. The tank was knocked down though, which allowed the four Persona-users to unleash an all-out attack which dealt some damage to the Shadow.

Fuuka then contacted them and said, "[I've gotten an analysis on the Shadow. Its statistics are as follows:]"*

HP: 4500

SP: 6750

Strength: 15 | Magic: 12 | Endurance: 44 | Agility: 06 | Luck: 14

Abilities: Beast Eye, Fog Breath, War Cry, Power Charge, Single Shot, Torrent Shot, Marakunda, Null Dizzy, Diarama, Needle Rush.

Elemental Properties: Weak to Electric, Resist Physical, Null Light and Dark.

Arcana: Unknown.

Minato then said, "[Something's not right. The Shadow's Arcana is unknown. I presume it's going to take more time.]"

Fuuka replied, "[Hold on. Another Shadow similar to it has just appeared in the area. Neutralize the tank first, then we can focus on the other one.]"

Minato had Neo Orpheus focus while Minako summoned Eurydice and had her use Tarunda on the Shadow. Yukiko followed up with an Agilao that hardly dealt any damage. The Shadow immediately used Beast Eye and followed up with Marakunda and Focus. Yu had Izanagi fire another Zionga at the Shadow, which knocked it down again and allowed for another all-out attack that dealt a bit of damage. Minato then used a Power Slash that criticaled and another AOA was unleashed. Minako simply defended herself with the Imitation Naginata that she had been given and Yukiko did the same with her fan. The Shadow used Beast Eye again and this time it power charged before it unleashed a critical hit Needle Rush on Yukiko that exhausted her. It then unleashed a War Cry on Minato.

Yu used yet another Zionga on the Shadow and knocked it down, allowing for another All-Out Attack to commence. Minato had Neo Orpheus use War Cry on the Shadow. Minako then used a Fatal End that hit the Shadow for negligible damage while Yukiko used an Agilao on the Shadow. The Shadow simply decided to use Fog Breath and lowered everyone's agility. Yu had to use a Purifying Salt to get rid of the effect and then Minato unleashed a Megido attack that, due to having been affected by War Cry, hardly dealt any damage. Minako also decided to use Megido, but she was able to deal a quite large amount of damage to the Shadow. Yukiko then healed herself as her Exhaustion took its toll. The Shadow decided to use Beast Eye again and followed up with both Power Charge and Focus. Yu fired off Zionga for the fourth time, initiated the All-Out Attack, and was greeted by the Shadow asking him,  **"WHAT IS GOING ON? ALL SYSTEMS REPORT DAMAGE. DO YOU HUMANS HAVE NO LIMITS?"**

Yu responded, "Indeed not, for we are ever improving."

Feeling bolder, Yu felt his attack, defense, and hit/evasion rise by 40% and he smirked. Minato used the opportunity to use another War Cry to negate the Power Charge and Minako used Nervundi on Yukiko, who proceeded to defend. The Shadow used Beast Eye and healed with Diarama before it tried to hit Yu with Torrent Shot, but the attack missed. Yu then decided to use Zionga for the fifth time and hit the Shadow hard, setting up for the sixth All-Out Attack. It went through, and the Shadow was barely able to stand. Minato used Megido again and the Shadow took serious damage, and it flat-out could not hold itself together when Minako hit it with another Megido attack.

Yu then remembered that Fuuka had mentioned that a second Shadow was on its way and after seeing the Shadow abandon its tank as it exploded, the other Shadow fused with the former tank controller.


	13. Chapter 12

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter Twelve

Shortly before the former tank controller fused with the second Shadow, Yu and Enforcer managed to get a good look at the second one. It was a scorpion-like Shadow.

After the two separate Shadows fused together, the result was a Shadow that looked like an armored spider. Its mask was on its small head while its body and legs were a rather dark brown color. Its two front legs had scorpion stingers at the end and looked sharp.

"[Those Shadows have fused together! I'll analyze it.]" Fuuka said as Yukiko switched with Yosuke so he could fight the new Shadow.

The members of the Investigation Team all guarded and because of this a Deathbound unleashed by the Shadow didn't cause much damage.

"[Enemy Shadow analyzed! Here's the details:]"*

HP: 5000

SP: 6850

Strength: 16 | Magic: 18 | Endurance: 20 | Agility: 10 | Luck: 18

Abilities: Dragon Eye, Dekunda, Deathbound, Power Charge, Matarunda, Fog Breath, Revolution, Power Slash.

Elemental Properties: Weak to Ailments, Null Light and Dark.

Arcana: Devil

Minato then said to Yu, "This Shadow apparently has the Devil as its Arcana. It's detached itself from other life forms so much that its components act on pure instinct instead of being drawn to the influence of other Shadows. It must have been gathering human souls to increase it own power."

Fuuka then said, "[This enemy's Arcana is the Devil! Stay on your guard!]"

Minato acted first and used War Cry on the Shadow. Yu was next and fired off Zionga, which damaged the Shadow. Minako had Eurydice use Fatal End, which dealt some good damage and then Yosuke applied Sukukaja to himself. The Shadow immediately used Dragon Eye and then used Matarunda, Fog Breath, Dekunda, and Revolution. Minato landed a normal attack that criticaled and set up an All-Out Attack that seriously hurt the Shadow despite the lowered accuracy and attack down in effect. Yu guarded as did Minako and Yosuke immediately canceled out the hit/evasion penalty on Yu with a Sukukaja. The Shadow then used Deathbound, which would have criticaled on Yosuke if he didn't dodge the attack completely. Minato used another War Cry which was followed by Yu switching his Persona to Slime and used Evil Touch to inflict Fear on Arcana Devil. Minako then used a Purifying Salt to get rid of Fog Breath's effect along with the attack down and Yosuke applied a Sukukaja on Minato.

The Shadow decided to use Dragon Eye again and followed up with two Power Slashes on Yu that weren't effective, a normal attack on Minato, and then it Power Charged itself. Minato had Neo Orpheus slap another War Cry on the armored spider Shadow as Yu switched his Persona to Oberon and used an Arm Chopper attack that criticaled, allowing for an All-Out Attack to commence. It dealt major damage to the Shadow and Minako attacked it normally while Yosuke unleashed a Sonic Punch. The Shadow used Deathbound for the second time and it nearly knocked Yosuke unconscious due to a critical hit while seriously hurting everyone else. It then used its extra turn to cast Dekunda. Minato used War Cry again and Yu used another Arm Chopper on the Shadow. Minako decided to have Eurydice use Megido, which hurt the Shadow while Yosuke healed everyone. The Shadow tried to attack Yu, but it missed and it fell down, allowing for another All-Out Attack to seriously hurt the Shadow. Minato decided to Focus as Yu attacked normally and Minako used Fatal End while Yosuke healed.

The Shadow used Revolution again. Minato then unleashed a Power Slash that criticaled and set up another All-Out Attack that hurt the Shadow. Yu used another Arm Chopper that criticaled and one last All-Out Attack was unleashed. The Shadow was already starting to show signs of exhaustion that meant it was nearly dead, but now it was obvious. A Fatal End unleashed by Minako's Persona still wasn't enough to kill the Shadow, but a Sonic Punch from Yosuke was. The Shadow collapsed and it disintegrated into a mass of black spheres that left behind a metal lump that glowed a pale white color. Enforcer walked to it and picked it up.

"This thing is a Core Essence. If a Shadow is powerful enough, it can generate one of these things and it strengthens them considerably. Core Essences can only be harvested by killing these powerful Shadows." Enforcer said.

Naoki Konishi stirred before he woke up. When he did, he asked, "What happened? I know that it had to do with those weird things, those. . . Shadows, if I remember correctly."

Enforcer noticed that Naoki was back up and said to him, "Follow us and we'll explain."

"Us?" the young man inquired.

Minato said to Naoki, "He specifically meant me and a few others."

A few minutes later at the field base, Enforcer and Minato explained to Naoki what had happened. Meanwhile, Yosuke and Yu were waiting around when a mercenary came by and said, "You guys know someone named Saki Konishi?"

Yosuke replied, "Yeah, why?"

The mercenary said, "She recovered from her Apathy Syndrome affliction earlier and she had some sort of flashback. We've put her to sleep just to be on the safe side. We don't know what sort of flashback she had, but from what I know, it was probably some event that was extremely traumatic to her."

"Talk to Enforcer about this."

"Sure." the unnamed mercenary then left.

* * *

After hanging out with Chie on May 4th, Yu decided to accompany Yosuke to the field base. Once there, Enforcer said to them, "Alright, we've managed to piece together some information and now we know what happened to Saki Konishi that was very traumatic to her."

Yu then asked, "What was it?"

"You guys know who Tohru Adachi is?"

Yosuke then answered, "Somewhat."

"Well, apparently he tried to seduce Saki, but she slapped the guy and he tried to force himself on her. In other words, Adachi tried to rape Saki. We're not sure if it was deliberate, but Saki got thrown into a TV before Adachi could have his way with her."

"Damn, no wonder she had that flashback."

"No shit. It's a really nasty symptom of a mental problem called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. And that's not even the worst part."

Yu then asked, "What is the worst part of PTSD?"

"It's completely incurable. Those who suffer from the symptoms have to learn to live with PTSD. Sometimes though, a trigger such as a social situation or a startle will ratchet up a sufferer to an insanely high, unmitigated, unbearable, and undefusable level of PTSD symptoms in an instant. Those ravages will never go away. Which means that Saki is going to have recurring nightmares, recollections, and flashbacks."

Meanwhile, Minato had been spending time with Akihiko when he found out from Mitsuru that Ken Amada had enrolled into Gekkoukan High as a first-year student. Junpei had managed to become a baseball coach, and Yukari had decided to head into college. Chidori had vanished after March 7th, 2010 for some reason and there was no trail to tip anyone off while Koromaru would soon be moved to Inaba.

"So when will Koromaru arrive?" Minato asked.

"He arrives tomorrow, the same day that Mitsuru and I leave. I'm not exactly sure what Aegis is doing, but she'll be accompanying Koromaru."

The rest of the day was uneventful, so Minato decided to study before going to bed after he said goodbye to Akihiko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Under normal circumstances, it's impossible to read the statistics of boss enemies.
> 
> Persona ability introduced in this chapter: Dragon Eye
> 
> Dragon Eye: gives the caster four 'One More' turns. Cost: 1 SP


	14. Chapter 13

Mercenaries of Fortune Chapter 13

Yasoinaba Station, May 5th, Afternoon, 26 days until New Moon.

Minato had just seen Mitsuru and Akihiko leave and so far Aegis and Koromaru had not yet arrived. Saki Konishi had managed to resume attending Yasogami High, but she had a lot to catch up on due to having been unable to attend for about two or three weeks. Minato waited for a few more minutes before he heard the PA announce, "This is Yasoinaba Station. I repeat, this is Yasoinaba Station. May all passengers on the train please grab their belongings before disembarking."

A train whistle blew as it entered the station. Aegis got off her train and made sure to grab her belongings, which there weren't many of, and Koromaru's pet carrier from the small amount of luggage that could not be taken onto the train and made her way outside. Once at the entrance, Minato noticed her and gestured to follow him. She did so and followed the blue-haired fool into the command center of the Field Base.

"So you pretty much know that you're staying here at the base, right, Aegis?" Minato asked.

"Yes." the Anti-Shadow Weapon said before releasing Koromaru from the pet carrier.

"Oh, hi, Koro-chan." the blue-haired fool said to the dog as he wagged his tail.

"I would recommend that you take him in."

"Sure, Aegis."

As they chatted, Aegis suddenly hugged Minato and then Minato felt power surge into him as a voice said,  _Thou art I and I am thou. Thou hast rediscovered old bonds. Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Aeon Arcana."_

"Um, Aegis, did anything happen when I was in the coma?" Minato asked when the mechanical girl ended the hug.

"While you were unconscious, I received your 'Wild Card' power to store and use multiple Personae. That power is now yours once again." she replied.

* * *

Dojima Residence, May 13th, Evening, 18 days until New Moon.

A news special was playing on the TV in the living room. Yu Narukami and Nanako Dojima were watching it while Detective Dojima was reading the newspaper and Enforcer was standing around nearby.

"Young men recklessly riding their motorcycles, disturbing the peace of a quiet rural town. . . our special report took a turn for the violent when one of their apparent leaders attacked the camera crew!" the narrator of the special said.

A young man whose eyes were blurred out yelled, "The hell are you punks doing here!?" before he threw a punch.

Ryotaro lowered the newspaper that he was reading and said, "That voice. . ." before the young man said, "This ain't a show! Get bent!" and Dojima remarked, "Still up to the same old tricks?"

"Do you know him, Dad?" Nanako asked her father. His reply was, "Well, I know him through work. His name's Kanji Tatsumi. He's quite a handful. He's been crushing biker gangs in this area ever since middle school. But I thought he got into a high school and started attending class. . ."

"Huh."

Enforcer then spoke up, "I'm surprised that it was him. We'll let him off the hook considering that he's been doing this because said bikers had been keeping his mother up at night. That blur is completely pointless unless some psycho wants him dead and that's unlikely."

Detective Ryotaro then explained, "His family runs a historic textile shop. I think what happened was, he crushed the local bikers all by himself because the noise kept his mother up at night like Enforcer said. It's a nice gesture, but he's way too violent. At this rate, his mother will have to apologize again."

"Typical." Enforcer scoffed.

"You sound like this is normal to you." Ryotaro said to the Mercenary.

"That because it is. For three years I was deployed to Los Angeles over in the United States and by Izanagi's spear there were a whole bunch of them. One of the older groups, the Hell's Angels, have been helping us tame the other ones and I think we had to shut down a protest held by a church led by some weird idiot who hates the LGBT community. I need to get back to the base. See you guys some other time."

* * *

Over the next few days, the Investigation Team attempted to warn Kanji about what was going on, but they were unable to do so because true to Ryotaro's word, the guy was too violent. Yu saw him on the Midnight Channel when he tuned in on the 17th of May and knew that a rescue operation would have to commence. Another thing that would also need attention was that Saki Konishi wasn't a member of the Investigation Team yet as she didn't face her Shadow Self yet. On the 18th, Enforcer gave them Kanji's bios after school was over and it proved to be useful since it had very detailed information on him and it mentioned that he had some sort of complex. It didn't go into further detail about the complex though, but Yu decided that the information was enough for Teddie to sniff out. After entering the studio area and chatting with him, the Steamy Bathhouse had been located within the TV world. Enforcer accompanied the team as usual, but Saki also tagged along. Teddie even gave her a pair of glasses to help her see through the fog. The Steamy Bathhouse had Shadows that were a step up from the ones in the Castle but so far they were weak considering that it was only the first two floors that the trash bothered them on before the Investigation Team encountered a door on the third floor that had a suspicious presence behind it. Saki didn't have a weapon with her and she had no Persona, so she wisely stayed out of the battles.

"[I'm detecting a suspicious presence behind the door. You want to head in?]" Enforcer asked Yu.

"Yes." Yu replied.

When the Investigation Team went in the room behind the door, they found what appeared to be Kanji wearing only a towel. Chie remarked, "There he is!" only for Enforcer to remark, "Wait, something's not right about Kanji. . ."

Kanji? turned around and said, "Ooooh, my my! Thank you for your undivided attention! At last, I've penetrated the facility! These images are coming to you live from inside this steamy paradise! But I've yet to have any charming encounters. Could it be because of this hot fog? It's like steam rising from sweat!"

"[Aw shit, I'm detecting another presence inside the room, and it's not another fake Kanji. I suspect that it is Saki Konishi's Shadow, so stay alert.]" Enforcer warned everyone.

As the team talked amongst themselves, the fake Kanji continued to narrate his tale before he took off. Yukiko tried to pursue, but Yu stopped her. "We can't purse the fake yet, there's still a suspicious Shadow in the area."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The battle against Shadow Saki is going to be in the next chapter, so be aware of that. In any case, I've decided to make Saki Konishi a member of the team. Read and review because Ahriman is not going to give a shit if the Conception occurs before the next chapter is released. I also decided ahead of time that her initial Persona, which Saki will get after her Shadow is beaten, will be Tsunade, which keeps things in with Japanese Mythology since in Japanese Mythology, Jiraiya falls in love with a young maiden known as Tsunade.


End file.
